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THE 



STORY OF THE LIFE 



JOHN ANDERSON, 

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE. 

■ 



EDITED BY 

HAEPER TWELVETREES, M.A., 

CHAIRMAN OF THE JOHN ANDERSON COMMITTEE. 



LONDON: 
WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 3 3 7, STBAND, W.C. 

1863. 



A SO 



LONDON! BURNS AND CO., STEAM PRINTERS, EDGWARE ROAD, W. 






/ 

6 



DEDICATION. 



TO GEORGE THOMPSON, ESQ., 

LATE MEMBEE OE PAELIAMENT EOE THE BOROUGH OE THE 
TOWEE HAMLETS, 

THE STORY OF THE LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

IN RECOGNITION OF THE EMINENT SERVICES RENDERED 

BY HIM TO THE 

CAUSE OF FREEDOM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD : ' 

AS A 

SMALL ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

OF HIS KINDNESS TO JOHN ANDERSON, 

AND TO 

MANY OTHERS OF THE COLOURED RACE: 

AND AS 

A SLIGHT EXPRESSION OF THE FRIENDSHIP AND ESTEEM 

WITH WHICH HE IS REGARDED BY 

THE EDITOB. 



PREFACE. 



The Story of the Life of John Anderson has 
been prepared for publication by the Editor at the 
earnest request of the Committee and of John Anderson 
himself, and whatever profits may accrue from its sale 
will be devoted to the benefit of Anderson, whose 
history must, in many respects, be regarded as an 
extraordinary one. The circumstances connected with 
the demand for his rendition are of such general interest, 
that the Editor makes no apology for presenting them 
in a permanent form in the following pages. He also 
desires to express, on his own behalf, and in the name 
of the John Anderson Committee, the warmest thanks 
to the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti- 
Slavery Society, for the noble manner in which they 
vindicated the cause of freedom, when called upon to 
resist a foul wrong attempted to be perpetrated on a 



VI. PREFACE. 

subject of the British Crown. A variety of circum- 
stances combine to make the history of John Anderson 
one of deep interest. The novelty and peculiarity of 
the case itself, the excitement which it created in Canada, 
England, and the United States; the gravity of the 
proceedings to which it gave rise ; the opinions of the 
many eminent men in Parliament, in the Cabinet, in 
Courts of Law, and of the Press, which it drew forth ; 
the importance of the question to be decided, as affect- 
ing the freedom and safety of thousands of fugitive 
slaves in the British American possessions ; the lofty, 
disinterested, and honourable position, which, from the 
first, was assumed by England ; and the prompt, decided, 
and magnanimous conduct of the British Government ; 
these, and other features of the case are brought out in 
the succeeding sketch of the brief, but singular and 
eventful, career of an American slave — now, happily, 
a slave no longer. 

In addition to the above circumstances, the history of 
John Anderson will be found to illustrate the actual 
condition of a slave in all countries where chattel 
servitude is permitted. He is the type and repre- 
sentative of eight millions of the human race — Africans 
and their descendants — who, at this hour, are held in 



PREFACE. Vll. 

debasing and cruel bondage by nominally Christian 
nations. In the light of the facts of Anderson s slave 
life, we see the true nature and effects of Slavery, as it 
exists in the Confederate States of America, throughout 
the empire of Brazil, and in the islands of the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

The father of Anderson was a slave, who — not, that 
he loved kindred less, but that he loved freedom more — 
forsook his wife and little one, and became an exile, a 
fugitive, and an outlaw upon the face of the earth. The 
mother of Anderson was a slave, who, but a few months 
after she became a parent, was left, virtually, a widow ; 
her natural protector — he who should have been her 
counsellor and stay, and the example and guide of her 
child — lost to her for ever ; and she, while yet that child 
was in its infancy, severed from it, sold like a bale of 
merchandize, or a four-footed beast of the field, and sent 
far from the scenes of her youth and the centre of her 
associations, to labour and to die upon the cane-fields of 
Louisiana. Behold the havoc which the execrable system 
of slavery makes of the sacred and divine relationships 
of the family ! 

The genealogy of an American slave is traced only 
through the maternal line. The progenitors on the male 



Till, PREFACE. 

side are rarely known in fact, and are never recognized 
in law. A slave, in law, lias no father. The legislation 
of the Slave States makes no reference to paternal an- 
cestry, and acknowledges the mother — not in respect to 
any natural rights, duties, or affections, but simply for 
the determination of the question of title, and for the 
purpose of fixing the legal status of the child. The 
natural relation between parent and child is not con- 
sidered ; and hence, neither in a legal nor in a religious 
sense, has a slave-born child either a father or a mother ; 
as is the condition of the mother, so is the condition of 
the child. This is the recognized and law-established 
principle, laid down for the administration of the brutal 
system of American slavery. As early as 1715, it was 
enacted by the state of Maryland, and it has since 
become the general law of the United States, that 
children born of slave mothers are slaves during their 
natural lives. It was thus that the atrocious maxim, — 
Partus seguitor ventrwn, — (the offspring follows the 
condition of the mother,) was introduced into the 
civil law ; and from that day to the present, the con- 
dition of the mother has determined the fate of the 
child. Who is he, who does not at once perceive 
that this revolting and horrible maxim of civil law is one 



PREFACE. IX. 

of the most cruel and degrading principles by which 
the institution of slavery, for which the rebel states are 
fighting, is distinguished ? By this law, any child whose 
maternal ancestor, even in the remotest degree, can be 
shewn to have been a slave, is declared the property of 
him who was the owner of its mother at the time of its 
birth ; and it is, therefore, doomed to perpetual bondage, 
although its paternal ancestor, at every successive gene- 
ration, may have been a free white man. Where is the 
man of intelligence who does not instantly see that this 
provision of human law perverts the divine ordinance 
of marriage from a holy institution, into a slave-breeding 
commerce between the sexes ; into a perpetual manufac- 
ture of property in human flesh, for the profit of the 
slave master ; that it breaks up and destroys the parental 
relation, and converts the children of slavemothers into 
household cattle, for the pecuniary benefit of the owner ; 
that it abrogates the commandment of the decalogue — 
" Honour thy father and thy mother" — and that it makes 
the relation, between father and mother, that of mere 
agents for increasing the gains of him who claims a right 
of property in the human chattel, whose offspring, by 
law, are his? Well may that eloquent defender of 
the rights of the injured slave, Dr. Cheever, observe — 



X. PREFACE. 

" The essence of American slavery, the central fun- 
damental element of cruelty and crime by which it is 
sustained and made perpetual, is just this, namely, the 
incessant stealing of children from their parents, by the 
factorship of the marriage relation, — perverted, cor- 
rupted, diabolized, into an engine of anguish and 
debasement to the parents, and of gain to the masters ; 
that hath on it, more than any thing else in the world, 
the stamp of hell.' , 

The particulars furnished in the following pages, of 
the events in the slave-life of John Anderson, and of 
the condition and treatment of his companions in 
bondage, though far from exhibiting slavery in its worst 
horrors, do more or less, illustrate its peculiar evils. 
They show that slavery is human chattelism ; that it 
reduces beings created in the image of God, to the level 
of the beasts that perish, or the clods of the earth. 
Anderson was a piece of property. It will be seen that 
slavery annihilates the heaven-ordained right of mar- 
riage, and encourages concubinage and adultery; that 
slavery ruthlessly sunders every conjugal, parental and 
filial bond; that slavery deprives the child of the pro- 
tection, support, example, and instruction due to it 
from the parent ; that slavery totally neglects the moral, 



PREFACE. xi. 

rational and spiritual faculties of the being claimed as 
property ; that slavery denies the use of letters, and 
abandons its victim to intellectual darkness ; that slavery 
transforms professing Christians into hypocrites, task- 
masters and menstealers ; and perverts the Word of 
God into a law in favour of robbery and oppression. 
Finally, that slavery is remorseless and unforgiving, and 
will abate no jot or tittle of its iniquitous demands. 



H. T. 



Eversley House, Bromley, Middlesex, 
March 9th, 1863. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. 

MISSOUEI. 

Birthplace of Anderson— -Purchase of the Territory of Louisiana- 
Missouri, originally a part of the Territory — Its settlement by 
shareholders — Efforts made to bring it into the Union — The 
repeal of theMissouri « Compromise" — Its admission in 1820— 
Subsequent Missouri Compromise— Geography, climate, pro- 
ducts and population . ... . Page 1 

Chaptee II. 

akdeeson's slave lipe. 

His parentage — The fate of his father and mother — His life in 
the plantation — His marriage — Is 3old and separated from his 
wife — Character of his new master — Morality of slaveholders 
— Why he resolved to run away ..... 8 

Chaptee III. 

ANDEESO]S ? S ESCAPE PEOM SLAVEEY— DESPEEATE STETTGGLE POE 
LIFE A3CD LIBEETY. 

Leaves the plantation — Bids farewell to wife and child — En- 
counters Diggs, a slaveholder—" Give me liberty, or give me 
death" — Wounds his adversary and flies — Perilous journey 
through the woods — Beaches the State of Illinois — Hospitality 
of an English settler — Proceeds to Chicago . . 13 



XIV. CONTENTS. 

Chapteb it. 

ANDEESON BENEATH THE BEITISH FLAG. 

Arrives at Windsor, Upper Canada — His first employment as a 
fireman — Discovers a plot to get him back to slavery — 
Changes his name and residence — For five years remains un- 
molested Page 21 

Chapteb T. 

andebson's abbest, and diplomatic cobbespondence thebeon. 

Anderson's confidence is betrayed — He is arrested and after- 
wards released — He is arrested a second time, and after some 
•weeks' confinement discharged — He is a third time arrested, 
and is committed to the county gaol — His rendition is de- 
manded, diplomatic correspondence thereon . . .24 

Chapteb TI. 

EIBST WHIT OF HABEAS COBPTJS. 

The Court of Queen's Bench, Canada, issues a writ — The deci- 
sion on the case is postponed — Anderson petitions the 
Governor- General — The Extradition clause of the Ashburton 
Treaty — The Act of the Canadian Parliament providing for 
its execution — The arguments of Counsel, pro and con . 28 

Chapteb TIL 

THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 

The 15th of December, 1860 — Intense excitement within and 
around the Court House in Toronto — Description of the 
crowd — Appearance and demeanour of Anderson — Adverse 
decision of the Bench — Eemarks of Mr. Justice McLean in 
favour of Anderson's discharge — Anderson is remanded to 
prison ......... 37 

Chapteb Till. 

G-BEAT MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF TOBONTO, TO PBOTEST AGAINST 
THE EXTBADITION OF ANDEBSON. 

Character of the Meeting — Resolutions adopted — Masterly speech 
of John Scoble, Esq. — Memorial to the Governor-General 43 



CONTENTS. XV. 

Chaptee IX. 

PEOCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND — SECOND WEIT OE HABEAS COEPTTS. 

First knowledge of Anderson being a slave — Prompt and praise- 
worthy conduct of the Duke of Newcastle — Action of the 
Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society 
— Memorial to the Colonial Mission — Application to the 
Court of Queen's Bench, Westminster — The Lord Chief Jus- 
tice issues a Writ of Habeas Corpus — American Minister's 
despatch describing the state of the anti-slavery feeling in 
England — Agitation throughout the country — Language of 
the public journals — Times , Weekly Dispatch, $fc. — Exer- 
tions made by the Anti-Slavery Society and its Secretary — 
The writ is sent to Canada ..... Page 35 

Chaptee X. 

PEOCEEDINGS IN CANADA — THIED WEIT OE HABEAS COEPUS. 

Writ granted by the Court of Common Pleas, Canada — The Case 
argued, February the 1st — Judgment delivered, February the 
16th — Opinion of Mr. Justice Draper — Comments on the ter- 
mination of the Struggle. — Course taken by the Canadian 
Press .«.....,. 65 

Chaptee XI. 

Anderson in England — Great Reception Meeting in Exeter 
Hall 85 

Chaptee XII. 

John Anderson's Speeches at Folkestone, Dover, Hastings, 
St. Leonard's, &c. . . . . . . . 125 

Chaptee XIII. 
John Anderson at Corby . . . . . , 135 

Chaptee XIY. 
Farewell Soiree to John Anderson ..... 147 



CHAPTEE I. 

MISSOURI. 

The Birthplace of Anderson. — Purchase of the Louisiana Territory. 
— Missouri originally a part of that Territory. — Its Settlement 
by Slaveholders. — Efforts made to bring it into the Union. — « The 
Missouri Compromise." — Its Admission in 1820. — Subsequent 
Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. — Geography, Climate, Pro- 
ducts, and Population. 

Before entering upon the narration of the personal 
history of John Anderson, it may not be out of place 
to introduce a notice of the State in which he was born, 
and in which he spent the days of his enslavement. He 
was " raised" in the territory of Missouri. The ad- 
mission of Missouri into the Union was a trying crisis 
in the life of the Western Republic, and occurred when 
the nation was yet comparatively young. 

In the year 1787, and previous to the adoption of 
the Federal Constitution, an ordinance was passed by 
the Continental Congress for the government of "all 
the territories of the United States, lying to the North- 
West of the river Ohio. One of the provisions of this 
ordinance was as follows : — 

" There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in pun- 

B 



2 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

ishment of crime, whereof the parties shall be duly 
convicted." 

When Ohio (in 1802-3) was constituted a State, the 
residue of the vast regions, included in the provisions 
of the ordinance of 1787, remained under the exclusive 
control of the Federal Government, as a part of the 
natural domain — the property of the nation, and sacred, 
therefore, according to the compact, to freedom, and 
free labour. It went by the name of the " Indiana 
Territory." From 1802 to 1807, inclusive, efforts were 
yearly made to induce Congress to allow slavery for a 
limited period in this territory, but without effect. It 
will be seen in what way this Ordinance has been 
since treated. 

In 1803, the vast and indefinite territory, known by 
the name of Louisiana, was ceded by France to the 
United States, for the sum of fifteen millions of dollars. 
The territory had just before been ceded by Spain 
to France, but without any pecuniary consideration. 
Slaveholding had been allowed under both these 
governments. The treaty, ceding the territory to the 
United States, guaranteed to the inhabitants their rights 
as slaveholders. The State of Louisiana, according to 
its present limits, was fully admitted into the L^nion, 
with a State constitution recognizing slavery, in 1812. 
The rest of the territory passed under the name of the 
Missouri territory. Those who chose to dwell in this 
territory continued to hold slaves within its scattered 
and thinly populated, but increasing settlements. 



MISSOUKI. 6 

On the assembling of Congress in 1817, a delegate 
from Missouri was admitted to take his seat from that 
territory, and to present petitions from sundry of its 
inhabitants, praying for admission into the Union. 
The matter was referred to committee, who made a 
report to the House, but nothing was done during that 
session. In 1818, the subject was again introduced, 
when a resolution passed the House to the effect that 
Missouri should be admitted, provided — "That the 
further introduction of slavery, or involuntary servitude 
be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, 
whereof the party should be duly convicted ; and that 
all children of slaves, born within the said State after 
the admission thereof into the Union, shall be free, but 
may be held to service until the age of twenty-five 
years." The vote upon this resolution was 87 ayes to 
76 noes. The bill, upon the basis of this resolution, 
was read a third time— -ayes, 98 ; noes, 56. This bill 
was sent up to the Senate, and was returned to the 
House with the provisions contained in the above reso- 
lution struck out. The Senate adhered to its amendment, 
and remanded the bill to the House. The House 
adhered to its resolution, so the bill was lost in the 
struggle. A motion was then made to organize the 
Southern portion of the territory into a State under the 
name of Arkansas, whereupon it was attempted to 
apply the same provisions to that State also ; but, ulti- 
mately, the bill for organization passed without any 
allusion to slavery. Arkansas thus became a slave 
State, and was fully admitted as such in 1836. 



4 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

The second great struggle regarding Missouri, was in 
the following year, 1819, on the assembling of a new 
Congress. This protracted and celebrated conflict, 
between the friends of the extension of slavery, and the 
friends of restriction, ended in a compromise between 
the extreme men of the two parties. The champions 
of extension were conciliated by the agreement to re- 
ceive Missouri as a slave State ; and the leaders of the 
non-extensionists were won over by the consent of their 
opponents to a provision that slavery should, for ever 
afterwards, be excluded from all the territories lying 
north and west of Missouri. It was, in effect, an offer 
from the milder opponents of slavery restriction to the 
moderate and flexible advocates of that restriction. 
"Let us," said the former, "have slavery in Missouri, 
and we will unite with you in excluding it from all the 
uninhabited territories north and west of that state." 
It was, in substance, an agreement between the North 
and the South to that effect, though the more deter- 
mined champions, whether of slavery extension or 
slavery restriction, did not unite in it. Such was the 
virtual termination of the struggle to prohibit slavery in 
Missouri : the opposition was overcome by the plan of 
offering instead thereof, an exclusion of slavery from 
the then Federal territory west and north of that State. 
This was the great Missouri compromise ; the accom- 
plishment of which is due, mainly, to the efforts of the 
great American statesmen, Henry Clay. 

Notwithstanding the solemnity of the compact then 



MISSOURI. 5 

entered into, and the universal belief of the people of 
the free states that it would be perpetual, it was repealed 
by a clause in the fourteenth section of a Bill for the 
organization of the territory of Nebraska, the words of 
which are as follows : — 

" That the constitution and laws of the United States 
which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same 
force and effect within the said territory of Nebraska as 
elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth 
section of the Act preparatory to the admission of 
Missouri into the Union, approved March 6th, 1820; 
which being inconsistent with the principles of non- 
intervention by Congress with slavery in the states and 
territories, as recognized by the legislation of 1850, 
commonly called the compromise measures, is hereby 
declared inoperative and void ; it being the true intent 
and meaning of this Act not to legislate slavery into 
any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to 
leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and 
regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, 
subject only to the constitution of the United States." 

This repealing section of the Bill at once removed 
every impediment to the introduction of slavery into 
the vast and as yet unpeopled territories of the North- 
West, and led to the attempt made to establish slavery 
in Kansas, and all the outrages, horrors, and blood 
which were the consequence. 

Missouri is bounded on the north by Iowa, on the 
west by the Indian territory, on the east by the Missis- 



6 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

sippi, which separates it from Illinois, Kentucky, and 
Tennessee, and south by the State of Arkansas, Its 
length is 280 miles, and its medium breadth about 230 ; 
the area being about 65,000 square miles. Besides the 
great rivers, the Missouri and Mississippi, the country 
is watered by others of inferior magnitude, among the 
largest of which are the Osage, the Suit, the Chariton, 
the Gasconade, the Maranec or Merrimac, the Big 
Black, and the St. Francis. 

The best and most thickly inhabited portions of the 
State are those lying between the Mississippi and the 
Missouri. Beyond the western limit of the State there 
is an almost boundless region of prairie land. A great 
part of the country is admirably adapted for the growth 
of wheat, rye, and oats. Indian corn is cultivated to 
the highest perfection, yielding from seventy to seventy- 
five bushels to the acre. With an adequate population, 
under the stimulus of free labour, Missouri might be 
made to produce wheat for all the inhabitants of the 
United States, eastward of the Rocky Mountains, and 
establish a claim to be regarded as one of the most 
prolific granaries in the world. 

Missouri, above any other State in the Union abounds 
in fruits. The pumpkin, squash, and melon, are pro- 
duced in profusion. The apple attains its utmost deve- 
lopment and beauty. The vine is common throughout 
the country ; one species of grapes ripens in June, a 
second in October, and a third during the winter. The 
peach is luxuriant and abundant beyond description ; 



MISSOURI. 7 

and the pear, the apricot, and the melon thrive well. 
The mulberry tree is common throughout the woods, 
affording the means of breeding the silk- worm to any 
extent, and thereby raising Missouri to the highest 
position among the middle States as a country for the 
production of raw silk. Above all other regions in North 
America, Missouri is the land of flowers. In the season, 
every prairie is an immense flower-garden. In the 
early stages of spring there is a generation of flowers 
whose prevalent tint is peach blow. To this succeeds 
one whose hue is of a deeper red, then follows one of 
yellow, and to the latest period of autumn the widely 
extended prairies are redolent of flowers exhibiting a 
golden lustre. Bears, wolves, panthers, buffaloes, elks, 
and deer, are found in Missouri. There are also myriads 
of waterfowl — swans, pelicans, cranes, geese, and ducks ; 
and besides prairie hens, two large and beautiful kinds 
of grouse, turtle doves, and wood pigeons. The Vir- 
ginia nightingale and parroquet are also frequently 
visitors. 

The population of Missouri was, in 1810, 19,833 ; 
in 1820, 66,586; in 1830, 140,074; in 1840, 383,702, 
of whom 58,240 were slaves. In 1850, the free popu- 
lation was 594,622, and in 1860, 1,085,596; shewing 
an increase, in ten years, of 590,974. In 1850, the 
slaves were 87,422, and in 1860, 115,619; being an 
increase of only 28,197. It will thus be seen that there 
has been but a small positive increase of slaves, while, 
compared with the free population, which has doubled, 
there has been an enormous relative decrease. 



LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER II. 

ANDERSON'S SLAYE LIFE. 

His Parentage. — The Fate of his Father and Mother. — His Life on 
the Plantation. — His Marriage. — Is Sold and separated from his 
Wife. — Character of his new Master. — Slaveholders' Morality. — 
Why he resolved to Run Away. 

Like the great majority of those reared under the insti- 
tution of American slavery, Anderson is ignorant of 
the precise date of his birth, but believes that he is at 
the present time thirty-one or thirty -two years of age. 
His mother was the property of a person named Moses 
Burton, of the town of Fayette, Howard County, Mis- 
souri. Burton cultivated a farm, raised tobacco, and at 
the same time followed the business of a carpenter, and 
was the owner of several slaves. Anderson, at his 
birth, according to the law referred to in a preceding 
chapter, became the chattel personal of the man who 
claimed his mother, and was reckoned among his live 
stock. As he increased in years he increased in value, 
until at the age of manhood he was worth a thousand 
dollars, and was sold for that sum. During the time he 
was with his first master he was known as Jack Burton. 



Anderson's slave life. 9 

Anderson cannot remember his father, but has heard 
him described as a person of light mulatto complexion, 
who pursued the occupation of a servant on board 
the steam boats employed on the Mississippi. While 
Anderson was yet an infant, his father made his escape 
from slavery, and, it was believed, went to South Ame- 
rica. When seven years of age, his mother, having 
given oiFence to her master, was sold to a negro trader 
for transportation to the slave market of New Orleans, 
and he was thus left an orphan. It was his good for- 
tune, however, to possess a mistress of a kind disposi- 
tion, who supplied, in a great degree, the place of the 
parents of whom he had been deprived. He invariably 
speaks of Mrs. Burton in terms of gratitude and affec- 
tion, calls her his "mother," and says he was " raised'' 
by her. This lady lived until Anderson was about 
nineteen. 

Anderson grew up upon his master's farm, and was 
early put to agricultural pursuits. The produce of the 
land was tobacco, wheat, Indian corn, and various kinds 
of fruits. Anderson's youth does not appear to have 
passed unhappily. The whip was occasionally in requi- 
sition, and he, doubtless, sometimes felt its smart in 
common with the other boys on the farm. But his 
time, upon the whole, appears to have~passed pleasantly. 
He was fond of athletic sports, such as running, jump- 
ing, and wrestling; enjoyed his evenings after the 
labours of the day; and joined with eagerness in the 
frolics and festivities permitted to the Negroes during 



10 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. w 

the Christmas holiday, which is the carnival and satur- 
nalia of the plantation Negroes of the South. 

Thus the time passed away, and Anderson became a 
man. He was expert in all the duties of the farm, 
could manage the tobacco crop for his master, and was 
allowed to cultivate a little patch on his own account, 
and also to sell the produce for his own benefit. This 
peculium is not uncommon in Missouri ; and slaves, not 
unfrequently, by availing themselves of the privilege, 
are enabled to purchase their freedom with the money 
they obtain for that which they cultivate in their over- 
hours. 

Anderson states that he made a profession of religion 
among the Freewill Baptists, and attended the ordi- 
nances of religion among the members of that denomi- 
nation. Like other young men he, in due time, also 
entered into the matrimonial relation. The person 
whom he chose to be his future help-meet was Maria 
Tomlin, the daughter of Lewis Tomlin. Lewis had 
been a slave, but had obtained his freedom by purchase 
— had also purchased his wife, and was, when Anderson 
left Missouri, making his living as a barber in the town 
of Fayette. Tnis marriage was contracted by the par- 
ties agreeing to live together as man and wife, and pro- 
mising to be faithful to each other. A colored minister 
was present when Anderson pledged his troth to Maria. 
They were married at Christmas, 1850, and towards the 
close of 1851 the union was crowned by the birth of a 
child. Maria was a slave upon the farm of Mr. Samuel 



ANDERSON'S SLAVE LIFE. 11 

Brown, distant about two miles from the farm of Burton. 
Maria had been previously married to a slave of the 
name of Green Shepherd, by whom she had had two 
children, the eldest, Emily, now about thirteen ; the 
second, a boy, now about eleven. She had been a 
widow twelve months when Anderson married her. 
She stipulated that Anderson should act the part of a 
father to her children, and that, should he succeed in 
obtaining his own freedom, and afterwards possess the 
means, he should exert himself as much for the freedom 
of his step-children as for the freedom of his own, which 
he agreed to do. 

As nearly as it can be ascertained, with the assist- 
ance of Anderson, it was about the middle of August, 
1853, when Burton effected the sale of Anderson to a 
man of the name of McDonald, whose residence was 
thirty miles distant from that of Brown, the owner of 
Anderson's wife. This separation was, naturally, a 
great trial to the young husband, and it was rendered 
more bitter by McDonald's refusal to permit Ander- 
son to visit his wife and infant child. When Ander- 
son requested a pass to return and see his wife and 
infant, he was told that he must abandon and forget 
them, and take a new wife, or mistress, from amongst^ 
the slaves of his present owner. Such is the humanity 
and morality of the owners of slaves in America ! The 
motive which influenced McDonald was obvious, and 
was perfectly understood by Anderson. His master 
wished him to become the father of children who should 



12 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

be born upon his farm, who should call his slave mother, 
and, hence, become his property, and increase the 
number of his live human stock. 

To such an arrangement Anderson determined he 
would never be a party, and further, that if his master 
insisted upon his compliance, he would adopt means for 
making his escape from Missouri, and for reaching the 
free soil of Canada, from whose shores he might hurl 
defiance at slaveholders and kidnappers, secure of the 
protection of British law, and the sympathy and support 
of British philanthropy. At this time Anderson was 
ignorant of the nature of international treaties and the 
meaning of extradition laws. 



HIS ESCAPE FKOM SLAVERY. 13 



CHAPTER III. 

ANDERSON'S ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY.— DESPERATE 
STRUGGLE FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY. 

Leaves the Plantation. — Bids farewell to his Wife and Child. — 
Encounters Diggs, a Slaveholder. — « Give me Liberty, or give me 
Death." — Wounds his Adversary and Flies — Perilous Journey 
through the Woods. — Reaches the State of Illinois. — Hospitality 
of an English Settler. — Proceeds to Chicago. 

As Andersons master insisted that he should follow the 
practice usual among plantation slaves, he at once pro- 
ceeded to carry out his resolution to bid Mr. McDonald 
and slavery, " good bye." He chose a Sunday at the 
latter end of September (having been but six or seven 
weeks in his new position) for his departure. The day 
seemed favourable for his project, as his master had 
been summoned from home to attend a church meeting, 
called to investigate a charge brought against a religious 
slaveholder of whipping a slave to death! To aid him 
in his flight he borrowed one of his master s mules, and 
two hours before daybreak made fast his blankets on 
the back of the mule, took a rope, some twenty feet 
long, to be of use in making a raft," and helping himself 
to a bridle, started for a ferry on the Missouri river. 



14 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

This river was about thirty-five miles from the point of 
starting. Here he tried to induce the ferryman to give 
him a passage across, but being unable to produce a 
pass was compelled to retire. He betook himself to 
the wood and lay till night, when he returned to the 
river, and was about to seize a boat that was lying on 
the bank, when some one appearing, he was obliged a 
second time to retreat into the woods. About two 
hours before sun-rise he ventured again to the river 
side, and was fortunate enough to find a skiff upon the 
bank, but without oars. Furnishing himself with a 
piece of bark for a paddle, he launched the boat and 
succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, where he 
landed and drew up the skiff. This was the first time 
he had ever been in a boat. He immediately started 
for Fayette, the residence of his father-in-law. It was 
yet dark. Fayette was about six miles away, but he 
was fortunate enough to get a lift part of the way by a 
stage. 

To Lewis Tomlin, Anderson made known his inten- 
tion of making his way to Canada, and his determina- 
tion to surrender his life rather than be captured in his 
attempt to gain his liberty. His father-in-law did not 
attempt to dissuade him from his purpose, and offered 
him a pistol for the defence of his person, which, how- 
ever, he declined, saying he had a dirk knife which he 
thought would be sufficient for his purpose. He next 
visited his wife, with whom he had a brief and affecting 
interview ; and after caressing his infant child, bade both 



HIS ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 15 

farewell, and hastened forth upon an unknown path to 
the soil whose touch gives freedom to the slave. He 
returned to Fayette to the roof of his father-in-law, and 
bidding him also adieu, pursued his journey. 

We now come to Anderson's encounter with the man 
whom he is charged, under the laws of Missouri, with 
" wilfully, maliciously, and feloniously stabbing and 
killing." 

About noon on Tuesday (the third day of his de- 
parture from McDonald's plantation), Anderson, while 
pursuing his journey to the North, passed a field belong- 
ing to one Seneca T. P. Diggs, who was at the time 
engaged in superintending the drying of tobacco. Diggs 
demanded of him who he was, where he was going, and 
whether he had the necessary pass. It should be known 
that, according to the law of the State of Missouri, any 
Negro, found more than twenty miles from the planta- 
tion of his master without a pass, may be arrested, and 
that the person taking him back is entitled to a reward 
of five dollars and mileage, at the rate of ten cents or 
fivepence per mile. 

Anderson confessed to being without a pass, but 
represented that he had legitimate business in that 
direction, and that he was bound on that business to a 
certain place. Diggs told him to accompany him to 
the house, saying he would give him some dinner and 
then shew him the way. This offer Anderson declined, 
upon which Diggs expressed his belief that Ander- 
son was a runaway, and that he should be restored to 



16 LIFE OF JOHN ANDEESON. 

his owner. Upon this Anderson immediately started ; 
Diggs calling to three of his Negroes, saying, " Catch 
that runaway, and I will give you the reward." Diggs 
also pursued, having at the time an axe in his hand, 
which he threw at Anderson, but without hitting him. 
After about an hour's pursuit, Anderson fled into the 
w r oods, followed by the Negroes, whose number had been 
increased to half-a-dozen. When they had hunted Ander- 
son for two or three hours they were joined by Diggs, 
who encouraged his slaves to seize the fugitive, and at 
last issued an order that they should take him dead or 
alive. Anderson had repeatedly shown his dirk knife, 
and declared that he would not be taken alive. He 
was now exhausted, and Diggs was able to come up 
with him, brandishing at the time a club ; the Negroes, 
also, were near and armed, each with a similar weapon. 
Anderson s sole hope of escape now lay in the use of 
his knife. With this he struck a blow at Diggs and 
retired from the spot ; but hearing him repeat his order 
that the slaves should take him dead or alive, and fear- 
ing that he had not inflicted sufficient injury to prevent 
pursuit, he returned and again struck Diggs, and effec- 
tually disarmed him. The Negroes followed for a short 
distance, but being advised by Anderson to go back 
and say they could not take him, they retired and left 
him to himself. 

Anderson, the same night returned to his wife and 
informed her of what had transpired. She said that a 
rumour had reached her master s plantation of some old 



HIS ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 17 

slaveholder having been struck by a Negro with a knife, 
and exhorted him at once to make his way out of the 
State with all possible speed. She was much frightened 
when informed that her husband was the man who had 
committed the act of which she had already heard. 
After receiving a shirt or two from his wife, he again 
started for the land of true liberty, and has seen neither 
wife, nor child, nor his birthplace since. 

Anderson commenced his distant and perilous journey 
with only a dollar and-a-half in his pocket. His tra- 
velling was, for the most part, performed during the 
night, and what rest he got he took, where he thought 
himself most secure, in the day time. He was often 
greatly in want of food, and for days together had to 
subsist upon what fell in his way — corn, hazel nuts, 
pawpaws, or raw potatoes. He had several narrow 
escapes from being captured. On one occasion, while 
resting himself by the wayside, a man on horseback 
rode up, and, charging him with being a fugitive slave, 
would have made him a prisoner, but he fled into a 
neighbouring field, and succeeded in concealing himself 
amongst some tall Indian corn. In the evening he 
ventured again into the public road, and observing a 
fire in the wood not far distant, and imagining that 
some of his own people might be engaged husking corn, 
he drew near the spot, and discovered, just in time to 
avoid the trap that had been set for him, that the fire 
had been kindled by the man from whose clutches he 
had escaped during the day. His enemy had adopted 
this method of decoying him into his ambush. 



18 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Under the provocation of extreme hunger, Anderson 
was sometimes impelled to levy contributions upon the 
eatable property of those whose dwellings lay in his 
way. Creeping into the back kitchen of a farm house, 
he filled one of his pockets with salt, and from a farm 
yard at another place he helped himself to three 
chickens, and having pulled their necks, retired into 
the woods to regale himself upon their flesh. He 
speedily deprived two of them of their feathers and 
roasted them ; but in the midst of his repast, though 
not until he had nearly picked the bones of both birds, 
he was alarmed by the sounds of approaching footsteps, 
when, suspecting that the owner of the chickens was in 
pursuit, he hastily decamped, carrying the uncooked 
chicken with him, which was his entire supply of food 
during the next two days. He crossed the Mississippi 
as he had done the Missouri, by using a boat which he 
found on the bank. It was now Saturday night, and he 
had been just a fortnight absent from the plantation of 
McDonald, and had gained the free State of Illinois. 
Knowing, however, that successful attempts had been 
made to recover fugitives in that State, he did not fee] 
secure, and therefore resolved to observe the same 
circumspection he had practised in Missouri. 

On the following day providence directed his foot- 
steps to the threshold of an English settler, who gave 
him a cordial reception, and offered him a night's lodg- 
ing. Before putting him to bed, his host furnished him 
with a good supper. Anderson's mind was afterwards 



HIS ESCAPE FKOM SLAVERY. 19 

greatly disturbed, and his apprehensions excited, by 
seeing a gun in his lodging room, which he thought 
might be kept for the purpose of overcoming runaway 
subjects like himself. His weariness, however, soon 
got the better of his fears, and after a long and sound 
sleep he rose much refreshed. Before breakfast his 
kind entertainer supplied him with a razor, and he was 
enabled to indulge in the luxury of a shave. In addi- 
tion to a substantial breakfast, the good-hearted Eng- 
lishman filled his pockets with apples and bread, and he 
departed on his way well rested, well cleansed, well fed, 
and well supplied. After several adventures, some of 
them of a critical nature, during the day and the night 
that succeeded, Anderson again ventured to present 
himself at the door of a white mans dwelling. Here 
he got a breakfast, and purchased a loaf of bread of 
the housewife. The farmer undertook to direct him, 
and went forth with him under pretence of doing so. 
They had not proceeded far, however, when Anderson 
perceived that the man was leading him back towards 
the house, through a field in which two of his sons 
were working. Fearful that he was about to be be- 
trayed, Anderson took to flight, and soon left the farmer 
and his sons far behind him. 

At the end of two days he struck a branch of the 
Illinois river, which he crossed, and after proceeding 
some distance, came to a railway track, with the use of 
which he was acquainted. He kept by this track until 
he arrived within a short distance of Bloomington. 



20 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

After various adventures he overtook some teams 
which were on the way to a place called Rock Island, 
and being permitted to mount one of them he reached 
the town that evening. The next day he hired himself 
to a barber, though quite ignorant of the art of shaving 
any one besides himself, but stayed with him only two 
days, and then started for Chicago, his fare being paid 
by a society of abolitionists. In Chicago, Anderson 
lived for three weeks with another barber, and then left 
for Windsor, Upper Canada, where he safely arrived. 



ANDERSON BENEATH THE BRITISH FLAG. 21 



CHAPTEE IV. 

ANDERSON BENEATH THE BRITISH FLAG. 

Arrives at Windsor, Upper Canada. — His first employment as a Free 
man. — Discovers a plot to get him back to slavery. — Changes his 
name and residence. — For five years remains unmolested. 

Anderson reached Windsor in the month of Sep- 
tember, 1853, and obtained employment as a labourer 
on the Great Western Railway of Canada, on that part 
of the line lying between Windsor and Chatham, and 
was paid at the rate of about seven shillings per day ; 
his work consisted in laying "ties" for the rails, and the 
job lasted six or seven weeks. During the month of 
October, he got a friend to write two letters to his wife 
in Missouri, one of which he sent to the care of Tomlin, 
his wife's father, and the other to a free coloured man, 
of the name of Allen, following the trade of a shoe- 
maker, in the town of Fayette ; the information in both 
letters was the same — to the effect that he had got safely 
to Detroit. When he had finished his job upon the rail- 
way, he returned to Windsor ; with his earnings he pur- 
chased himself some clothes and entered the institution 
of Mr. William Bibb — a fugitive slave, who had estab- 



22 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

lished a school — resolving to devote one half of his time 
to his education, and the other half to manual labour, 
and thus be able to support himself and attend school 
at the same time. He found in a lady of the name 
of Evelyn a very kind friend ; she was a widow, and 
obtained her living by teaching. This lady sent for 
Anderson to inform him that a letter had arrived in 
Windsor, stating that his wife and children had reached 
Detroit, and were waiting for him. Mrs. Evelyn read 
the letter to him, and told him it was her belief that it 
had been sent to decoy him across the river into the 
State of Michigan, and that if he crossed he would, in 
all probability, be seized and carried to Missouri. Mrs. 
Evelyn advised him to leave the institution, to remove 
to Chatham, and the better to avoid detection, to assume 
another name. He acted according to this counsel ; and 
making up a small bundle of clothes, and leaving his trunk 
under the care of a Mrs. Jackson, immediately started for 
Chatham, which place was sixty or seventy miles from 
Windsor ; he avoided the high road, and walked as far 
as Belle River, where he took the railway cars for Chat- 
ham. This change of residence took place in the second 
or third week of April, 1854. In Chatham he took 
another name. In Missouri he had always been called 
Jack, in Windsor he went by the name of John Anderson, 
but in Chatham he became James Hamilton. This was 
the name of a coloured man — like himself, a fugitive — 
who resided in the town, and who was old enough to pass 
for his father. In Chatham, Anderson went to wood 



ANDERSON BENEATH THE BRITISH FLAG. 23 

chopping, by the " cord," for which he was paid at the 
rate of three and sixpence per cord, and he could do on 
an average two cords a day. He had not been many 
weeks in Chatham before a rumour spread among the 
coloured people of the place, that certain parties were 
on the look-out for him, and that a reward had been 
offered for his apprehension. The report alarmed him, 
and he deemed it advisable to go to a lawyer, and tell 
him in what way he had made his escape from slavery, 
and at the same time, take his advice as to the course he 
should pursue. Having related to him ail the facts of the 
case, the lawyer told him he had better leave the neigh- 
bourhood, and again change his name, for though his 
enemies might not be able to " get him," they might give 
him a u heap of trouble." 

It is difficult in the absence of reliable information, 
to furnish any connected account of the proceedings of 
Anderson during the five following years of his resi- 
dence in Canada. He has stated that he travelled from 
place to place, and pursued various employments, until 
having learned the trade of a mason and plasterer, he 
settled down in the town of Caledonia, where he be- 
came the owner of a house. With this brief notice of 
his first six years of freedom, we proceed to record those 
events in his history, which excited so much public 
attention, and made his name so widely known. 



24 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER V. 

ANDERSON'S ARREST, AND THE DIPLOMATIC 
CORRESPONDENCE THEREON. 

Anderson's confidence is betrayed. — He is arrested, and afterwards 
released. — He is arrested a second time, and after some weeks con- 
finement discharged. — He is a third time arrested, and is committed 
to the County Jail. — His rendition is demanded. — Diplomatic 
correspondence. 

About the commencement of the year 1860, Anderson 
was imprudent enough to mention, in confidence, to a 
person of the name of Wynne, with whom he was at 
the time on terms of intimate friendship, the facts con- 
nected with his escape from slavery, including his en- 
counter with Diggs. Wynne, in retaliation for some 
offence given him by Anderson, reported what he had 
heard to a Justice of the Peace of the name of Mathews ; 
who, upon the information thus furnished, caused the 
fugitive to be arrested. It is believed that he 
(Mathews) further communicated the fact of Anderson's 
capture to the friends of the deceased Diggs. After 
several weeks' imprisonment — no witnesses appearing, 
Anderson was released. But on the 30th of April, and 



Anderson's arrest. 25 

only three days after his discharge, he was again arrested 
on the information of a man of the name of Gunning — 
a detective police officer, and professional slave-catcher, 
who came over from Detroit, in the State of Michigan, 
and deposed on oath, that he " verily believed Anderson 
had wilfully, deliberately, and maliciously murdered 
Diggs, on the 28th of September, 1853." 

After some additional weeks imprisonment, Anderson 
was again set at liberty through the interposition of 
legal aid ; but the man Gunning did not abandon his 
intention of procuring his extradition. Accordingly on 
his return to the United States, Gunning applied himself 
to the obtaining of evidence from Missouri in support 
of his original charge, and returning with witnesses, 
Anderson was once more arrested, and brought up for 
examination. The case was gone into on the 27th of 
September, when there appeared as witnesses, against 
him, William C. Baker, of Howard County, Missouri ; 
also, two sons of the deceased Diggs ; also a lawyer of 
the name of Holliday ; also a constable of the name of 
Hazlehurst, and finally, a slave called Phil. The evi- 
dence of these witnesses having been taken, Anderson was 
committed to the common jail of Brantford, " to be there 
safely kept, until he should be delivered by due course 
of law." The warrant was dated the 28th of September, 
and was signed by Mathews and two other Justices of 
the Peace. 

There appears to have been an immediate application 
by Anderson's prosecutors to Washington, as on the 



26 LIFE OF JOHN ANDEKSON. 

2nd of October, the Secretary of State, General Cass, 
addressed a letter to the British Minister, requesting 
her Majesty's government to issue the necessary war- 
rant to " deliver up the person of John Anderson, 
otherwise called Jack, a man of colour, charged with 
the commission of murder in the State of Missouri." 
There was an important omission in this official requi- 
sition. John Anderson was described simply as a 
coloured man and not as a slave; and therefore, a piece 
of property. This omission might have been attended 
with serious if not fatal consequences, as the proceed- 
ings, both at the British Embassy at Washington, and at 
the Foreign and Colonial offices in London, were based 
upon the presumption that Anderson was a free man, 
and that he was charged with the crime of murder in 
the capacity of a free man. At a later date, April 8th, 
1861, Lord Lyons, in a despatch to Lord John Russell, 
says, — " When I despatched the requisition for the 
surrender, to Canada, I was not aware that John Ander- 
son had been a slave, or that there were any peculiar 
circumstances in the case." 

Lord Lyons, on receiving the requisition of General 
Cass, transmitted it to the Foreign office in London, and 
on the 22nd of October, 1860, Lord John Russell request- 
ed the Secretary of State for the Colonies "to take the 
necessary steps for complying with the application should 
there be no objection thereto. " Accordingly, on the 
27th of October, a despatch from the Colonial office, 
and a letter from the Foreign office, went out to Canada, 



Anderson's arrest. 27 

instructing Sir Edmund Head "to take such measures 
as were authorized by the laws of Canada, for the ex- 
tradition to the authorities of the State of Missouri, of 
the person of John Anderson, otherwise called Jack, 
charged with the commission of murder in that State." 



28 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FIEST WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. 

The Court of Queen's Bench, Canada, issues a Writ. — The decision on 
the case is postponed. — Anderson petitions the Governor- General. 
— The extradition clause of the Ashburton Treaty. — Act of the 
Canadian Parliament. — The provision for its execution The argu- 
ments of Counsel, pro and con. 

We return to Canada. 

Justice Mathews, having decided that the evidence 
adduced before him was sufficient to warrant a de- 
mand for Anderson's extradition, certified the Governor- 
General to that effect ; but his Excellency's legal adviser, 
unwilling to take the responsibility of giving an official 
opinion, brought the question before the Court of Queen's 
Bench of Canada, by Habeas Corpus. The writ was 
issued on the 20th of November, and was made return- 
able on the 23rd. The Judges, after hearing arguments, 
took time to consider, and fixed the loth of December 
for the delivery of their decision. In the interval, the 
following petition was presented to the Governor- 
General, by John Anderson : — 



FIRST WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. 29 

11 To His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada, 
&c., &c. 

" The petition of the undersigned, John Anderson, 
confined in the jail of the county of Brantford, humbly 
showeth :— 

u That your petitioner was born in the state of Missouri, 
one of the United States of America. 

"That to the best of his knowledge he is of the age 
of thirty years. 

" That he was the slave of Burton and another, in the 
year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. That 
the plantation of Burton and the other, was within about 
thirty miles from the plantation of Samuel Brown. That 
in the last mentioned year your petitioner was married 
to one Maria Tomlin, who was the daughter of Tomlin, 
who had purchased his liberty from his master. That 
about six weeks before he formed the determination to 
come to Canada, for the purpose of obtaining his free- 
dom, he was sold and transferred by said Burton, and 
his partner, to one MacDonnell, who lived about thirty 
miles distant from your petitioner's wife. 

"That your petitioner had always felt that he had a 
right to his freedom. 

" That he had never done anything to forfeit his 
liberty, and was not subject to any restraint through 
crime. 

" That he might lawfully use any means within his 
power to obtain his liberty, and with that object ran 
away from MacDonnell. That he went to his wife, 



30 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

who was a slave of, and lived with Samuel Brown, and 
consulted with her as to his intentions, and she concurred 
with him in his views, with an ultimate hope as to her- 
self, and a young child, then about eight months old, the 
issue of our marriage, obtaining their liberty. 

"That while he was then there he was pursued, but 
escaped. That in his course to Canada he had to pass 
the plantation of Seneca F. T. Diggs, and that while 
passing it he was accosted in nearly the manner men- 
tioned in the evidence transmitted to your Excellency. 
That he made the excuse of wishing to go to Givens's 
so that he, Mr. Diggs, would allow him to pass. 

"That this will be manifest, or otherwise, your peti- 
tioner could have had no reason, under the evidence, for 
attempting to escape. 

"That when said Diggs refused to allow this excuse 
for not having a pass, your petitioner found it necessary 
to make his escape, and endeavoured to do so. 

"That your petitioner was run down, having been 
chased for nearly an hour in a circle, and at the moment he 
was looking for success, Mr. Diggs appeared before him. 

"That he could not turn, his pursuers being at his 
heels with clubs, and being borne on by the first impulse, 
he dashed against said Diggs with an open knife, with 
which he had threatened his pursuers, as will appear from 
the evidence of Phil, hereto annexed, which is nearly 
true ; whether your petitioner struck with it more than 
once, he cannot recollect ; but whatever sudden impulse 
bid, that he did to obtain his liberty. That your peti- 



FIRST WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. 31 

tioner was imprisoned for about the space of three weeks, 
last spring, on this charge ; but as no one appeared 
against him, he was discharged. That another warrant 
was issued against him for his arrest for the same crime, 
on the third day after his discharge, on an information 
quite insufficient, as he is advised. 

"That your petitioner was not aware of such second 
warrant having been issued until he was arrested in the 
town of Simcoe, about two weeks since. That he had 
gone from Caledonia, where he resided at the time of 
his arrest, in the hope of obtaining employment at his 
trade as a mason. That your petitioner therefore prays 
that your Excellency will be graciously pleased to with- 
hold an order delivering your petitioner to the authorities 
of the state of Missouri, inasmuch as by the British law 
he is entitled to be free there, and the evidence shows 
that he only used such force as was necessary to main- 
tain that freedom there ; and your petitioner, as in duty 

bound, will ever pray." 

his 
(Signed) John X Anderson. 

mark. 

(Witness) A. S. Reachie, Deputy Jailor. 
Brantford, 1st October, 1860. 

The article of the Ashburton treaty, under which the 
extradition of Anderson was claimed, is as follows : — 

"It is agreed that her Britannic Majesty and the 
United States shall, upon mutual requisitions by them or 
their ministers, officers, or authorities, respectively made, 



32 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSOX. 

deliver up to justice all persons, who, being charged with 
the crime of murder, or assault with intent to commit 
murder, or piracy, or arson, or robbery, or forgery, or 
the utterance of forged paper, committed within the 
jurisdiction of either, shall seek an asylum, or be found 
within the territories of the either, provided that this 
shall only be done upon such evidence of criminality, 
as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive 
or person so charged shall be found, would justify his 
apprehension and commitment for trial, if the crime or 
offence had there been committed ; and the respective 
judges, or other magistrates of the two governments, shall 
have power, jurisdiction, and authority, upon complaint 
made under oath, to issue a warrant for the apprehension of 
the fugitive or person so charged, that he may be brought 
before such judges or other magistrates respectively, 
to the end that the evidence of criminality may be heard 
and considered ; and if, on such hearing, the evidence 
be deemed sufficient to sustain the charge, it shall be the 
duty of the examining judge or magistrate, to certify the 
same to the proper executive authority, that a warrant 
may issue for the surrender of such fugitive. The 
expense of such apprehension and delivery, shall be 
borne and defrayed by the party who makes the requisi- 
tion and receives the fugitive." 

The act of the Canadian Legislature, prescribing the 
duties of the judicial and executive officers under the 
treaty, reads as follows : — 

"Upon complaint made under oath or affirmation, 



FIRST WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. 33 

charging any person found within the limits of this pro- 
vince, with having committed, within the jurisdiction of 
the United States of America, or of any of such States, 
any of the crimes enumerated or provided for by the 
said treaty, any of the judges of any of Her Majesty's 
superior courts, in this province, or any of Her Majesty's 
justices of the peace in the same, may issue his warrant 
for the apprehension of the person so charged, that he 
may be brought before such judge or justice of the peace, 
to the end that the evidence of criminality may be heard 
and considered ; and if on such hearing, the evidence be 
deemed sufficient, by him, to sustain the charge accor- 
ding to the laws of this province, if the offence alleged 
had been committed herein, he shall certify the same, 
together with a copy of all the testimony taken before 
him, to the governor, that a warrant may issue, upon the 
requisition of the proper authorities of the said United 
States, or any of such states, for the surrender of such 
person, according to the stipulation of the said treaty ; 
and the said judge, or the said justice of the peace, shall 
issue his warrant for the commitment of the person, so 
charged, to the proper jail, there to remain until such 
surrender be made, or until such person be discharged 
according to law." (12 Vic. c. 19, s. 1.) 

On behalf of the Crown it was urged, that the offence 
of Anderson was one which, if committed in Canada, 
would subject him to trial for murder; that Diggs, in 
attempting to arrest Anderson, was engaged in enforcing 
the laws of Missouri, and therefore the latter was clearly 

D 



34 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

guilty of murder, and ought to be given up in obedience 
to the requisition of trie United States Government. On 
behalf of the prisoner it was contended, that the pro- 
ceedings of the committing magistrate, were, in some 
respects, illegal ; that the affidavit of Diggs's slave was 
improperly admitted, the witness being under constraint ; 
but, mainly, that a slave attempting to escape from bon- 
dage, and killing the person who attempted to re-enslave 
him, did not, according to the common law, commit 
murder, but justifiable homicide, and that the rendition of 
Anderson, would be a virtual recognition, on British soil, 
of the slave laws of the United States. 



THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 35 



CHAPTEE VII. 

THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 

The 15th of December, 1860. — Intense Excitement within and around 
the Court House in Toronto. — Description of the Crowd. — Appear- 
ance and Demeanour of Anderson. — Adverse Decision of the Bench. 
— Remarks of Mr. Justice McLean in favour of Anderson's Dis- 
charge. — Anderson is Remanded to Prison. 

The court room, on the 15th of December, was densely 
crowded with persons eager to learn the decision upon 
which the fate of the prisoner hung. Would he be 
delivered over to the tender mercies of slaveholders' 
law — the essence of cruelty and injustice- — or would he 
be declared a free man, and go forth to inhale the at- 
mosphere, and walk in the light of liberty ? That was 
the question. Would he be pronounced a fugitive from 
justice — a criminal, a felon, and a murderer ; or would 
he be proclaimed a man who had vindicated, in his own 
person, the rights of the whole human race, and in 
obedience to the law of nature, and in accordance with 
the universally allowed natural prerogative of our 
species, had struck a justifiable blow in defence of his 
personal liberty ? Amongst the audience that awaited 
the decision of the bench were many persons of the 
same colour as the prisoner. They, too, had been 



36 LIFE OF JOHX AXDERSOX. 

slaves — they, too, were fugitives from the house of bon- 
dage, and if Anderson were surrendered, their liberty 
would be placed in jeopardy, and they also might be 
dragged back to the toils of slavery from which they 
had escaped. The multitude on the outside of the 
court room presented an extraordinary spectacle : men 
of all ranks, degrees, and complexions, were animated 
by a common hope that, in the case to be adjudicated, 
right would triumph over might. The police mustered 
in large numbers, and piled their muskets in front of 
the hall ; but no disposition to commit violence was 
manifested by the crowd. The people could not bring 
themselves to believe that the Judges would decide 
against the fugitive, and were confident that the law 
would set him free. In anxious expectation, the groups 
assembled within the court room awaited the delivery 
of judgment on some ordinary cases, and there was an ' 
eager stir when the prisoner, who had been freed from 
his fetters in the anteroom, entered the chamber, and 
was accommodated with a seat within the bar. He was 
described by a local paper as a stout-built man of mid- 
dle height, and of a very deep yellow complexion, with 
a full development of forehead, and a countenance in 
which mildness and intelligence were strongly marked. 
He looked round upon the faces of the crowd, but 
apparently thinking that its sympathy could not avail 
him, he turned his gaze upon the Judges, and, with 
manifest intelligence, collected himself to listen to their 
decision — a deep sigh now and then escaping from his 



THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 37 

broad chest. It must have been an anxious moment 
when, as the clock struck the hour of noon, the Chief 
Justice produced his papers and began to read. The 
life or death of a human being hung on his words. 
The liberties of hundreds of self-emancipated slaves 
depended upon the opinion of three fallible men ! The 
thought must involuntarily have suggested itself to 
many — " Was this poor fellow, after he had by desperate 
adventure achieved his liberty, and enjoyed its sweets 
for more than five years, to be sent back to certain 
slavery, if not death ? Were the hundreds of fugitives 
in a province of the British crown, who had committed 
what the laws of the slave states denominate felonies in 
effecting their escape, to be henceforth at the mercy of 
the man-stealer ?" 

Chief Justice Eobinson and Mr. Justice Burns con- 
curred in refusing the application for Anderson's dis- 
charge. Mr. Justice McLean dissented, on the grounds 
which every sincere hater of slavery, and everyone who 
admits the equal manhood of the black man, must deem 
conclusive. On a review of the proceedings of the 
Justice (Mathews), and the evidence in the case, he 
remarked : — 

" Looking, then, at all the testimony taken before 
the justice of the peace, and rejecting such portion as 
is unnecessary and inadmissible, there is not a witness 
who connects the prisoner with the stabbing of Diggs, 
unless it be Thomas S. Diggs, in his statement of the 
death-bed declarations of his father to him, and these 



38 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

only shew that the negro by whom Diggs was stabbed 
made certain declarations as to himself and his identity, 
which would be true if made by the prisoner ; but 
rejecting the deposition of the slave Phil there is no 
testimony which establishes satisfactorily that the pri- 
soner is the person who caused the death of Diggs. On 
the grounds, therefore, that the prisoner was arrested in 
the first instance on an insufficient complaint, and that 
he is now detained in custody on a warrant of commit- 
ment until discharged by due course of law for an 
offence committed in a foreign country ; and on the 
further grounds, that the offence stated in the warrant 
of commitment is not one for which the piisoner is 
liable to be detained under the provincial act for carry- 
ing out the treaty with the United States for the sur- 
render of certain fugitive criminals, and that the evi- 
dence, as given before the justice of the peace, is of 
too vague a character to establish the offence of murder 
against the prisoner according to the laws of this pro- 
vince, I am of opinion that the prisoner is now entitled 
to be discharged from custody." 

The learned judge concluded his opinion in the 
following terms : — 

" Can it then be a matter of surprise that the prisoner 
should endeavour to escape from so degrading a posi- 
tion ; or rather, would it not be a cause of surprise if 
the attempt were not made ? Diggs — though he could 
have had no other interest in it but that which binds 
slaveholders for their common interest to prevent the 



THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 39 

escape of their slaves — interfered to prevent the prisoner 
getting beyond the bounds of his bondage, and, with 
his slaves, pursued and hunted him with a spirit and 
determination which might well drive him to despera- 
tion ; and when at length the prisoner appeared within 
reach of capture, he, with a stick in his hand, crossed 
over a fence, and advanced to intercept and seize him. 
The prisoner was anxious to escape, and, in order to do 
so, made every effort to avoid his pursuers. Diggs, as 
their leader, on the contrary, was most anxious to over- 
take and come in contact with the prisoner, for the 
unholy purpose of rivetting his chains more securely. 
Could it be expected from any man indulging the desire 
to be free, which nature has implanted in his breast, 
that he should quietly submit to be returned to bondage 
and to stripes, if by any effort of his strength, or any 
means within his reach, he could emancipate himself? 
Such an expectation, it appears to me, would be most 
unreasonable ; and I must say that, in my judgment, the 
prisoner was justified in using any necessary degree of 
force to prevent what, to him, must inevitably have proved 
a most fearful evil. He was committing no crime in 
endeavouring to escape and to better his own condition ; 
and the fact of his being a slave cannot, in my humble 
judgment, make that a crime which would not be so if 
he were a white man. If in this country any number 
of persons were to pursue a coloured man with an 
avowed determination to return him into slavery, it 
cannot, I think, be doubted that the man pursued 



40 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

would be justified in using, in the same circumstances 
as the prisoner, the same means of relieving himself 
from so dreadful a result. Can, then, or must the law 
of slavery in Missouri be recognized by us to such an 
extent as to make it murder in Missouri, while it is jus- 
tifiable in this province to do precisely the same act ? 
I confess that I feel it too repugnant to every sense of 
religion and every feeling of justice, to recognize a rule, 
designated as a law, passed by the strong for enslaving 
and tyrannizing over the weak — a law which would not 
be tolerated a moment, if those who are reduced to the 
condition of slaves, and deprived of all human rights, 
were possessed of white instead of black or dark com- 
plexions. The Declaration of Independence of the 
present United States proclaimed to the world, that all 
men are born equal and possessed of certain inalienable 
rights, amongst which are life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness ; but the first of these is the only one ac- 
corded to the unfortunate slaves ; the others of these 
inalienable rights are denied, because the white popu- 
lation have found themselves strong enough to deprive 
the blacks of them. A love of liberty is inherent in the 
human breast, whatever may be the complexion of the 
skin. 'Its taste is grateful, and ever will be so till 
nature herself shall change.' And in administering the 
laws of a British province, I never can feel bound to 
recognize as law any enactment which can convert into 
chattels a very large number of the human race. 1 



THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 41 

tliinh that, on every ground, the prisoner is entitled to be 
discharged" 

All the judgments were listened to with profound 
silence ; but when Mr. Justice McLean concluded the 
delivery of his opinion with the words — " I think that, 
on every ground, the prisoner is entitled to be dis- 
charged," the suppressed feelings of the crowd found 
vent, and the court house was rent with acclamations. 
Those who watched the countenance of Anderson, as 
each of the Judges in turn addressed the court, saw it 
darkened with sadness or brightened with hope, as the 
opinions given were friendly or adverse. Alas ! the 
majority had decided that he must be surrendered. Ne 
wonder his eyes filled with tears, and the cloud of 
anxiety settled upon his brow, for would not the effect 
of that adverse iudgment be to consign him to the hands 
of a jury of slaveholders ? and had it not been publicly 
asserted that roasting to death, at a slow fire, was the 
fate in reserve for him? One hope remained — the 
Court of Error and Appeal might yet reverse the deci- 
sion that had been given, and establish the inviolability 
of the right of asylum — the proudest institution of the 
British empire. 

The authorities, aware, perhaps, beforehand of the 
nature of the decision to be given, and fearing an 
attempt at a rescue, had prepared an exhibition of 
armed force ; but this demonstration of power excited 
derision rather than indignation or terror. 

The order made by the court on the termination of 



42 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

the judgments, was — "That the said John Anderson be 
recommitted to the custody of the keeper of the gaol of 
the county of Brant, under which he had been detained, 
until a warrant should issue, upon the requisition of the 
proper authorities of the United States of America, or 
of the state of Missouri, for his surrender ; or until dis- 
charged according to law." 

At the conclusion of the case, the counsel for Ander- 
son intimated his intention of referring the judgment 
just delivered to the Court of Error and Appeal, and 
the counsel for the crown said that no obstruction would 
be thrown in the way. 



GREAT MEETING AT TORONTO. 43 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GREAT MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF TORONTO TO 
PROTEST AGAINST THE EXTRADITION OF ANDERSON. 

Character of the Meeting. — Resolutions Adopted. — Masterly Speech 
of John S coble, Esq. — Memorial to the Governor- General. 

The excitement in Toronto, caused by the proceedings 
in the Court of Queen's Bench on the 20th and 23rd of 
November, was intensified by the decision delivered in 
the full court on the 15th of December; and, in the 
evening of the 19th of the same month, one of the 
largest and most enthusiastic meetings ever held in the 
City took place, over which the Mayor presided. 
St. Andrew's Hall was densely packed, and many hun- 
dreds were unable to find entrance. The speakers in- 
cluded the leading clergymen, lawyers, and merchants 
of the city. The state of the public feeling may be 
inferred from the fact, that the sentiments expressed 
by some of the speakers that the rendition of Anderson 
might result in the loss of the province to Great Britain, 
was warmly applauded. It will be admitted, therefore, 
that the proceedings of this meeting deserve to be 
permanently recorded. 



44 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

It was moved by the Rev. Principal Willis, seconded 
by Alderman McMurrich, and Resolved, — "That this 
meeting, impressed with the danger to the cause of 
humanity and liberty which would result from the rendi- 
tion to the United States of the fugitive Anderson, now 
imprisoned in this city, hold it an imperative duty to 
give expression to those feelings, on this subject, which 
were implanted in the human breast prior to all legisla- 
tion, and which has been the honour of British law to 
recognize and vindicate. " 

It was moved by Professor D. Wilson, seconded by 
the Rev. Dr. Burns, and Resolved, — " That, believing 
slavery — a system which dooms human beings to per- 
petual servitude, treats them as vendible chattels, 
places the dearest personal rights and domestic ties, even 
the very prerogatives of conscience, at the mercy of 
arbitrary power — to be unscriptural, and a violation of 
the fundamental principles of the law of nature, this 
meeting holds it to be unjust to apply the designation of 
4 murder' to such violence as a fugitive may find necessary, 
to resist aggression, and defend his personal liberty." 

It was moved by John Scoble, Esq., formerly, and 
for many years, secretary to the British and Foreign 
Anti-slavery Socety ; seconded by M. C. Cameron, Esq., 
and Resolved, — " That in the opinion of this meeting 
the British Government, in negociating the Ashburton 
Treaty, could not have intended that a fugitive slave 
escaping from bondage to Canada, and charged with 
the commission of crime in his struggle for freedom, 
should be returned for trial in the slave states." 



GREAT MEETING AT TORONTO. 45 

The speech of Mr. Scoble on this occasion, is so 
important— as a clear and conclusive exposition of the 
true meaning and intent of the extradition clause of the 
treaty referred to in the Resolution — that we deem it 
worthy a place in this narrative. Mr. Scoble said : — 

" I understand it is expected from me that I shall 
give to this meeting a statement of facts with reference 
to the extradition treaty, as we find them in the public 
records. I well remember that, in the year 1843, when 
the first printed copy of the extradition, or Ashburton 
treaty with the United Sates was presented to the Pro- 
vincial Parliament, we took the alarm at the probable 
consequences that might result from it with reference 
to fugitive slaves. I had the honour then of beino* the 
secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society of England, and 
of being associated in the Anti-Slavery cause with such 
men as Clarkson, and Brougham, and Lushington, and 
Denman, and other eminent individuals. And in our 
associated capacity we felt it to be our duty to submit 
the question of the effect the treaty might have, as it 
respected the fugitive slaves in Canada, to the consider- 
ation of the government. It fell to me to make the 
permanent record of all the transactions that then took 
place, and having refreshed my memory within the last 
few days, by a reference to those records, I am able to 
state most distinctly and unequivocally that in our com- 
munications with Lord Ashburton, with Lord Aberdeen, 
then the Foreign secretary, and with Sir Charles 
Metcalfe, who was then about returning to Canada as 



46 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Governor-General of this Province, it vras most clearly 
understood that fugitive slaves were to be excepted 
from the operation of the treaty. (Cheers.) I well 
remember the agitation of the public mind in England 
in reference to this question, for we felt that it was just 
possible for the slaveholders of the United States to 
charge crimes upon fugitive slaves in Canada, and to 
produce a certain amount of evidence in relation to such 
alleged crimes, which might by a strict interpretation of 
the treaty, lead the Government here to hand over to 
the tender mercies of slaveholders the fugitives they 
might claim. We first approached Lord Ashburton on 
this subject. We wished to understand from him what 
was his impression as to the 9th Article, more particu- 
larly on its bearing on fugitive slaves. I have here 
the record of what that distinguished nobleman said. 
After we had explained to him the precise object 
we had in view, he replied, ' That the article in 
question was no luore designed to touch the fugitive 
slave, than to affect the case of deserters, or parties 
charged with high treason. (Cheers.) Xot satisfied, 
however, with having appealed to Lord Ashburton, as 
to his understanding of the treaty, or that particular 
clause of it which might be used against the fugitive 
slave, we presented a memorial to the Earl of Aberdeen, 
then Foreign Minister, in which we set forth the status 
of slaves in the United States, showing to his lordship 
that it was impossible for a slave to obtain justice at the 
hands of those who held him in their power, and that the 



GREAT MEETING AT TORONTO. 47 

laws of the Slave States, in reference to the slave, were of 
the most sanguinary and atrocious description. We 
shewed that there were not less than seventy offences for 
which the slave might be punished with death, and for 
which a freeman, if he committed them, could only be 
fined or imprisoned, or, at the most, placed in the Peni- 
tentiary. We then pointed out to his lordship the cha- 
racter of the tribunals before which offending slaves 
were tried, and shewed that it was utterly impossible 
for a slave to look for justice under any circumstances 
that could be imagined from such courts. We con- 
cluded our memorial in these words : — ' The committee 
enter not into the discussion of the policy or impolicy 
of the general principle involved in the extradition 
clause, they refer that to the wisdom of the Government 
and the Legislature ; but they cannot willingly be par- 
ties to any arrangement which involves the possibility 
of the restoration of fugitive slaves to bondage, or which 
renders any part of the British dominions less an asylum 
of liberty than it is at present. They, therefore, earn- 
estly beseech your lordship that, in the contemplated Act 
of Parliament for giving that clause effect, the Govern- 
ment will be pleased to provide that it shall not, under 
any circumstances or under any pretence whatsoever, 
apply to the case of fugitive slaves, but that they shall be 
wholly exempted from its operation.' That was the prayer 
of the committee of the Anti-Slavery Society, and it 
was sustained by the whole of England. Now, what 
was the answer which Lord Aberdeen gave to us? 



48 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

'His lordship received the deputation with great courtesy, 
and intimated that he took the deepest interest in the 
security and welfare of the fugitive slaves who have 
sought refuge in Upper Canada. His lordship stated 
also that the greatest care should be taken to prevent, 
in their case, the abuse of the extradition article.' And 
from my own recollection I am able to state another 
fact in connection with that interview ; it is this — that 
his lordship stated that, in order to prevent the possi- 
bility of the misuse of the 9th clause of the treaty, strict 
instructions should be forwarded to the Governor of 
Canada that, in the case of fugitive slaves, the greatest 
care should be taken that the treaty should not work 
the ruin of them." (Loud cheers.) 

It was moved by the Rev. Mr. Topp, seconded by the 
Rev. Mr. King, of Buxton, and Resolved, — " That as it 
is the boast of Britain that its soil cannot be trodden by 
a slave, so it is the high distinction of this province 
that it has hitherto afforded an inviolable sanctuary for 
the oppressed ; and, while desiring no immunity to be 
afforded by our law for real criminals, whether bond or 
free, we feel that the disposal of the pending cause, in 
the manner to which the decision of the court points, 
would be to destroy the security which many British 
subjects now happily enjoy within our territory." 

It was moved by P. Brown, Esq., seconded by J. Gr. 
Bowes, Esq., and Resolved, — "That this meeting, 
while reposing well-merited confidence in the equitable 
spirit of British law, and cherishing becoming respect 



GREAT MEETING AT TORONTO. 49 

for British tribunals, regard it as entirely consistent 
with such sentiments to seek, in due order, the most 
deliberate award of justice on a question respecting 
which our judges are divided in opinion, and resolve to 
leave nothing undone to have the present case sub- 
mitted to the courts of last resort in the province, and, 
if need be, in the empire." 

It was moved by the Eev. F. H. Marling, seconded 
by Alexander Manning, Esq., and Kesolved, — " That 
the following petition be forwarded to His Excellency 
the Administrator of the Government, praying him to 
withhold his warrant for the delivery of the fugitive 
slave, Anderson, to the United States authorities for the 
reasons set forth in the preceding resolutions : — 

" To His Excellency, &c, — The memorial and peti- 
tion of the undersigned most respectfully sheweth, — 

" That as inhabitants of this free British province, 
and warmly attached to the British Constitution, we 
feel deeply concerned in any event, or act of civil 
administration, by which the reputation of our country, 
as one whose soil cannot be polluted with slavery, 
might be tarnished, or the influence of British laws 
given directly or indirectly to the upholding of a cruel 
oppression. 

" That, alarmed by the manner in which the rash, and, 
as your petitioners believe, improper act of a local 
authority in Canada, in arresting and detaining, under 
an alleged charge of murder in the State of Missouri, 
the person of Anderson, now in jail in Toronto, has 

E 



50 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

been affirmed by a majority of the judges of the Queen's 
Bench, your petitioners gladly betake themselves to 
your Excellency as the acting head of the Executive 
Government, in the earnest hope that such a decision 
may not prevent your Excellency from disposing of 
this case in harmony with the spirit of our laws and the 
dictates of eternal justice. 

"That your petitioners believe that a just as well as 
liberal interpretation of the Ashburton Treaty would 
exempt the accused party, Anderson, from the range of 
its application, and they are strengthened in this belief 
not only by the authority of a Judge of long experience 
on the Queen's Bench itself, but by the opinions of 
eminent practical lawyers in Canada, and by decisions 
in analogous cases both in Britain and the United 
States ; also by documents, extant and accessible, illus- 
trating the meaning of Lord Ashburton and other par- 
ties closely connected with the arrangements of said 
treaty. 

u That were the prisoner in question remanded to a 
United States jury in the circumstances alleged, and in 
the present state of the slave law, the prisoner's oppor- 
tunities of obtaining impartial judgment are so small, 
and so diminished beyond all that could have been 
foreseen by the parties to the Ashburton Treaty — espe- 
cially since the decision in what is known as the Dred 
Scott case, which affirms that a coloured person has no 
rights that he can assert or which the citizens of the 
Republic are bound to respect — that his rendition on 



GREAT MEETING AT TORONTO. 51 

the evidence alleged would be to recognize a state of 
things never contemplated by those who framed the 
Treaty. And your memorialists submit that where so 
much as a doubt of the reading of the Treaty exists, the 
benefit should, as usual, but especially where such 
momentou' interests are concerned, be given to the 
accused ; and the case, so far as it happily comes for 
preliminary judgment before our own Government, 
should be decided in a large and humane construction 
of the clauses of the Treaty, and the Acts of Parliament 
bearing upon it, rather than by mere technicalities. 

"That the consequences of disposing of this cause 
otherwise, cannot, your memorialists hope, but appear 
to your Excellency and your Government most dan- 
gerous to the sacred interests of just liberty, in render- 
ing the condition of many industrious residents in this 
province one of extreme peril; nothing being easier 
than, by means of such evidence as has been brought 
forward in this case, to drag them back to bondage, or 
subject them to the cruel pains of a law which gives 
no equal protection to the slave, whether as regards life, 
chastity, or religion, and thus to render our happily 
free territory a hunting ground for persons whose crime 
may only have been that they dared to be better than 
slaves, and defended at the risk of their own lives, 
or with possible danger to the lives of aggressors 
and spoilers, their inalienable rights and their dearest 
domestic relations. 

" That reposing confidence in the generous and 



52 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

British-like spirit of your Excellency, and in the belief 
that your memorialists plead only for what is just and 
right according to the law of nations, the sacred demands 
of religion, and the true reading of international com- 
pacts, they pray your Excellency to release the prisoner 
aforesaid, and hold him not liable to be rendered up to 
foreign authorities, as claimed. 

" And your memorialists will ever pray, &c." 
Such were the proceedings of one of- the most nume- 
rously attended, enthusiastic, and important meetings 
ever held in the capital of Western Canada. 

It has been already stated that, at the conclusion of 
the case in the Court of Queen's Bench in Canada, the 
counsel of Anderson stated his intention to refer the 
judgment then delivered to the Court of Error and 
Appeal. Accordingly, on the 22nd of December, an 
application for leave to make such an appeal was heard 
by the court, but it was decided that no appeal would 
lie from its judgment upon a writ of Habeas Corpus to 
the court above. Mr. Freeman, the able and zealous 
counsel for Anderson, then said that it was in contem- 
plation to sue for a writ of Habeas Corpus from the 
Court of Common Pleas, and also from the Court of 
Chancery, and that, if necessary, application would be 
made to the Legislature of Canada, and, in the last 
resort, to the Privy Council and Parliament of England. 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 53 



CHAPTER IX. 

PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND -SECOND WRIT OF 
HABEAS CORPUS. 

Eirst knowledge of Anderson being a Slave. — Prompt and praise- 
worthy conduct of the Duke of Newcastle. — Action of the Com- 
mittee of the British and Eoreign Anti-Slavery Society. — Memorial 
to the Colonial Minister. — Application to the Court of Queen's 
Bench, Westminster. — The Lord Chief Justice issues a Writ of 
Habeas Corpus. — American Minister's Despatch, describing the 
state of Anti-Slavery feeling in England. — Agitation throughout 
the Country. — Language of the Public Journals — Times, Weekly 
Dispatch, &c. — Exertions made by the Anti-Slavery Society and 
its Secretary. — The Writ is sent to Canada. 

Leaving Anderson in jail in Canada, the attention of 
the reader is directed to England for the purpose of 
noticing the proceedings taken by the Government, the 
Press, and the anti-slavery portion of the community, in 
the novel case first made known by the contents of the 
American mail, at the commencement of the month of 
January, 1861. 

The application made to the Court of Queen's. Bench 
in Canada, and the decision thereon, appear to have 
furnished the earliest information received by the 
Queens Government in London, of the fact, that John 
Anderson, whose extradition had been sanctioned, was 
a slave. On this fact becoming known at the Colonial 



54 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Office, the Duke of Newcastle addressed a despatch to 
the officer administering the Government of Canada, 
dated January 9th, 1861, stating that he had just re- 
ceived a report of the judgment delivered in the Court 
of Queen's Bench at Toronto, in the case of Anderson, 
a fugitive slave ; and, also, information that the prisoner's 
counsel had given notice of appeal. His Grace directed 
that, " If the result of that appeal should be adverse to 
Anderson, it was to be borne in mind by the acting 
Governor of Canada that, under the treaty of extradi- 
tion, Anderson could not be delivered over to the 
authorities of the United States by the mere action of 
the law, and that he could be surrendered only by a 
warrant under the hand and seal of the Governor." 
The Duke further stated, that " the case of Anderson 
was one of the greatest possible importance, and that 
Her Majesty's Government were not satisfied that the 
decision of the Court at Toronto had been in conformity 
with the view of the treaty which had hitherto guided 
the authorities in this country. Such being the case, 
the Government of Canada were to abstain, in any case, 
from completing the extradition, until Her Majesty's 
Government should have had further opportunities of 
considering the question, and, if necessary, conferring 
with the Government of the United States on the 
subject." In conclusion, the Duke expressed his desire 
to be kept fully and immediately informed in reference 
to any further steps which might be taken in a case at 
once so peculiar and so important. 



PEOCEEDIXGS IN ENGLAND. 00 

About the same time, the committee of the British 
and Foreign Anti- Slavery Society presented a memo- 
rial to the Duke of Newcastle, urging him to interpose 
to prevent the extradition of Anderson, and submitting 
that the clause in the Treaty under which he had been 
claimed, was not applicable to the case, inasmuch as it 
provided for the surrender of a criminal to justice only 
upon such evidence of criminality as according to the laws 
of the place where the fugitive so charged shall be found 
would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial 
if the crime had been there committed. The question to 
be decided was, whether, according to British law, a 
man would be chargeable with the crime of murder, 
who had resorted to extreme means to preserve the 
liberty of which another was seeking unjustly to deprive 
him — which was the case with regard to Anderson. In 
addition to this memorial, the committee considered it 
advisable to take a more decided step than that of simply 
asking Government to issue instructions to the superior 
authorities in Canada not to deliver up Anderson with- 
out a direct order from Her Majesty's advisers. Accor- 
dingly, on the 10th of January, the Duke of Newcastle 
was notified that a motion would be made on affidavit 
in the Court of Queen's Bench, Westminster Hall, for 
a writ of Habeas Corpus to issue for the production of 
the person of Anderson in that Court, and on the loth 
the motion was made upon the grounds stated in the 
memorial, and others which were most ably presented ; 
and the writ was granted. 



56 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

The following is an accurate, though abridged account 
of the proceedings in this most important case. 

COUET OF QUEEN'S BENCH WESTMINSTER, 

January 15th. 

(Sitting in Banco before Lord Chief Justice Cockbuen, and 
Justices Cbomptox, Hill, and Blackburn.) 

EX PARTE AXDEESOX. 

Mr. Edwix James, Q.C. (with whom were Mr. Flood and 
Mr. G. Allan) moved for a writ of habeas corpus, to be directed 
to the Governor of the Province of Canada, to the Sheriff of 
Toronto, and the keeper of the gaol there, to bring up the 
body of one John Anderson, together with the cause of his 
detention. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockburn asked why the name of the 
Governor was introduced. 

Mr. James said the reason was because, in the St. Helena 
case, to w 7 hich he should have to refer, the name of the 
Governor was introduced, as well as that of the keeper of the 
gaol. The affidavit on which the learned counsel moved was 
made by L. A. Chamerovzow, of No. 27, New Broad- street, 
in the city of London, Secretary of the British and Foreign 
Anti- Slavery Society. He stated that John Anderson, of the 
city of Toronto, in Her Majesty's Province of Canada, a 
British subject, domiciled there, was, as he verily believed, 
illegally detained in the criminal gaol of the said city there, 
against his will, not having been legally accused, or charged 
with, or legally tried, or sentenced for the commission of any 
crime, or for any offence against or recognized by the laws in 
force in the said Province, or in any other part of Her 
Majesty's dominions, or not being otherwise liable to be im- 
prisoned or detained under, or by virtue of any such laws. 
The affidavit further stated, that the deponent verily believed, 
that unless a peremptory writ of habeas corpus should imme- 
diately issue by this honourable court, the life of the said 
John Anderson would be exposed to the greatest and to im- 
mediate danger. The learned counsel proceeded to observe, 
that in moving for this writ of habeas corpus , the persons for 
whom he appeared would have to satisfy the court that they 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 57 

had jurisdiction to issue this writ to the Province of Canada ; 
and if he established that proposition, their Lordships would 
have no doubt that, under the pressing circumstances of the 
case, the writ ought to be directed to issue. The proposition 
for which he should contend was, that the Crown had power 
to issue the writ of habeas corpus into any part of Her 
Majesty's possessions. Canada was a part of the possessions 
of the British crown, and, in the language which had been 
adopted in these cases, Her Majesty had a right to have an 
account of the imprisonment of all her subjects in all her 
dominions. He contended that the court had as much right 
to issue this prerogative writ into Canada, as a possession of the 
British crown, as into the Isle of Wight or Yorkshire. These 
writs had gone to Calais, when a possession of the British 
crown, and also to Ireland, and he should contend that 
Canada stood in precisely the same position, as a possession 
of the British crown. Canada, which was a part of the con- 
tinent of America, was colonized in the reign of James L, 
and the first charter was granted in the 13th of James I. 
At that time (and the expression was material) the whole of 
that portion of America was called "the Plantations," and 
the Board of Trade was called " the Board of Trade and Plan- 
tations." Canada belonged to the British crown till the year 
1633, when it was ceded to Prance ; and it was held by the 
crown of France till the year 1759, when it was retaken, and 
ceded to the British crown. The statute 14th George III. 
cap. 83, treated Canada as a colony in the possession of 
England. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockbtjen said that in the Lower Pro- 
vince of Canada the French law prevailed ; but Toronto was 
an English colony in Upper Canada. 

Mr. Justice Hill said the 8th section of the statute the 
14th of George III. reserved civil matters for the old law ; but, 
by the 11th section, the criminal law of England prevailed 
through the whole of Canada. 

Mr. James read an extract from the judgment delivered by 
Lord Denman in the case of the Canadian prisoners (9 A, and 
E., 782), where Lord Denman said — 

" The difficult questions that may arise, touching the en- 
forcement iu England of foreign laws, are excluded from this 
case entirely ; for Upper Canada is neither a foreign state nor 



58 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

a colony with any peculiar customs. Here are no mala pro* 
hibita by virtue of arbitrary enactments; the relation of 
master and slave is not recognized as legal ; but Acts of Par- 
liament have declared that the law of England, and none 
other, shall there prevail. " 

By the 11th section of the statute the 14th of Q-eorge III. 
cap. 34, the criminal law of England was in force through 
the whole of Canada, and, beyond all question, a British 
subject in Canada was within a portion of Her Majesty's 
dominions. The learned counsel contended that it was matter 
of right and clear law, that as soon as a country became a 
portion of Her Majesty's dominions, more especially if, like 
Canada, it became so by conquest or cession, that the writ of 
habeas corpus issued into it, upon the ground that Her Majesty 
had a right to know what had become of every one of her 
subjects. No instance could be found of the writ going into 
Canada, and therefore it was necessary to rely upon the 
argument by way of analogy, which empowered the court to 
issue the writ. That the writ lies and runs into every part 
of Her Majesty's dominions was laid down in Bacon s Abridge- 
ment — tit. Habeas Corpus (B) — in these terms : 

"2. To what places it may be granted. It hath been already 
observed that the writ of habeas corpus is a prerogative writ, 
and that, therefore, by the common law it lies to any part of 
the King's dominions ; for the King ought to have an account 
why any of his subjects are imprisoned, and therefore no 
answer will satisfy the writ, but to return the cause with 
paratum habea corpus, &c. Hence it was holden that the writ 
lay to Calais at the time it was subject to the King of Eng- 
land." 

Mr. James then referred to Cowle's case, in the 3rd vol. of 
Burrows 9 Reports, p. 834, where Lord Mansfield said: 

" Writs not ministerially directed (sometimes called pre- 
rogative writs, because they are supposed to issue on the 
part of the King), such as writs of madamus, prohibition, 
habeas corpus, certiorari, are restricted by no clause in the 
constitution given to Berwick : upon a proper case they may 
issue to every dominion of the Crown of England. There is 
no doubt of the power of this court where the place is under 
the subjection of the Crown of England ; the only question is 
as to the propriety. To foreign dominions which belong to a 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 59 

Prince who succeeds to the throne of England this court has 
no power to send any writ of any kind. We cannot send a 
habeas corpus to Scotland, or to the Electorate ; but to Ireland, 
the Isle of Alan, the Plantations, and (as since the loss of the 
duchy of Normandy they have been considered as annexed to 
the Crown in some respects) to Guernsey and Jersey we may, 
and formerly it lay to Calais, which was a conquest, and 
yielded to the Crown of England by the treaty of Bretigny." 

Mr. Ja^tes said, that by the industry of his junior (Mr. 
Elood), he had copies of the writs which had been issued to 
Calais in 1387 and 1389. They might be seen in Rymer's 
Feeder a, p. 15. In 1389 such a writ was issued by the House 
of Lords, sitting as a court of justice. The learned counsel 
relied strongly on the authority of Lord Mansfield, who said 
that the writ would issue to " every dominion of the Crown 
of England ;" and that this court could send the writ to Ire- 
land, to the Isle of Alan, and to " the Plantations.'' He also 
referred to VatteVs Law of Nations, b. 1, chap. 18, p. 210, as 
an authority for the position, that where a nation took posses- 
sion of a distant country, and settled in it, it became a part 
of the parent State; and to Grotius de Jure Belli ac Pads 
b. 2, c. 9. to the same effect. He also referred to Peeress 
Williams's Reports, b. 2, pp. 74, 65, where it was said: — 

" Memorandum, the 9th of August, 1722. — It was said by 
the Master of the Rolls to have been determined by the Lords 
of the Privy Council, upon the appeal to the King in Council 
from the foreign Plantations, ' That if there be a new and 
uninhabited country found out by British subjects, as the law 
is the birthright of every subject, so wherever they go they 
carry their laws with them, and therefore such new-found 
country is to be governed by the laws of England.' " 

Mr. James then referred to the case of " Reg v. Crawford" 
(13 Q. B., 613), which was an application for a writ of habeas 
corpus ad subjiciendum to the Isle of Man, and in which it 
was held that the writ would run into that island since the 
5th of George III., by which the island was vested, in the 
Crown, and formed part of its dominions. The learned council 
also cited the case of " Campbell v. Hall," in Cow per } s 
Reports, p 204. 

Mr. Justice Ceompton thought the question was whether 
the courts in Westminster Hall had now a concurrent jurisdic- 
tion with the local Courts in granting this writ. 



60 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockbtjbjs- said, that in the Berwick case, 
Berwick was not subject to the law of Scotland, and therefore 
there was no superior court which could send a habeas corpus 
to prevent an illegal imprisonment, unless this Court took 
upon itself jurisdiction. But was that the case in Canada ? 

Mr. James said he did not dispute that Canada had both 
legislative and criminal jurisdiction ; but his argument was, 
that the courts in England had a concurrent jurisdiction with 
the Courts in Canada. The present was not the case of a man 
who had been tried in Canada, or who was under the sentence 
of a court which had power to sentence him, for the affidavit 
shewed that he had never been tried ; and he contended that 
the mere institution of a local jurisdiction would not oust the 
Queen of the right which she had to ascertain whether any 
of her subjects were illegally imprisoned. In the case of the 
Isle of Man, there were local courts which had the power to 
issue writs of habeas corpus, and so also in the St. Helena case 
(" Ex parte Lees, Ellis, Blackburn, and Ellis, 28). In this 
latter case a w r rit of habeas corpus had been very recently 
granted, after a writ of error had issued. 

Mr Justice Ceompton said he issued the writ as ancillary to 
the writ of error. 

Mr. James said, that if this court refused a writ of habeas 
corpus the party had a right to go in succession to each of the 
superior courts ; and if this court should refuse their writ, he 
would have a right to go to every court in Westminster-hall. 
He thought that was a strong argument to shew that this court 
had a concurrent jurisdiction with the Canadian courts. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockbtte^ said the question was whether 
it was within the ambit of this court's jurisdiction, or whether 
the power of granting the writ was not vested by the Crown 
in another jurisdiction. 

Mr. James contended that the mere establishment of such 
a jurisdiction in a local court could not limit the rights of the 
Crown without the authority of an Act of Parliament. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockbtjen said that, by the conquest or 
session of Canada the law of England attached, and this court 
had the power to issue writs of habeas corpus into that country, 
unless the Crown had either expressly or by implication taken 
away that power. The question was, whether, by the estab- 
lishment of a local judicature, and committing to it the duty 



PROCEEDINGS IK ENGLAND. 61 

of protecting the subject by issuing writs of habeas corpus, the 
Crown had not, by implication, taken away the jurisdiction of 
this court. 

Mr. Justice Ceomptox said the Legislature might do that. 

Mr. James said it was open to a party in this country to 
apply for the writ of habeas corpus to any court of co-ordinate 
jurisdiction. 

Mr. Justice Hill. — And also for a prohibition. 

Mr. James contended it was a common-law right of the 
subject to go to every tribunal for this writ, and d fortiori, the 
courts in this country would have a concurrent jurisdiction 
with Colonial courts, unless it was taken away by an Act of 
Parliament. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockbue^ asked whether the right to go 
to every one of the courts had not arisen from the Habeas 
Corpus Act ? 

Mr. James contended it was by the common law, and all 
this court was asked to do was, not to interfere with any 
judgment, but to grant a habeas corpus to liberate a man who 
was in illegal custody. He was not in custody under the 
commitment of any local court which had the power to try 
him ; there was no judgment to set aside ; but it was shewn 
to the court that he was detained for no crime cognizable by 
the law of England. The learned counsel then referred to 
Carus Wilson's case (7 Q,. B., 984), in wbich the writ had 
issued in the Isle of Jersey ; and then proceeded to argue 
that the case might arise when the courts in Canada might 
be unable to discharge their duties, as a reason why this Court 
should still retain the power of granting these writs. 

Lord Chief Justice Cockbtjen inquired, supposing the writ 
should go, what means had the Court of enforcing it ? 

Mr. James said the Court could enforce the writ by attach- 
ment, but it could not be assumed that the Queen's writ 
would not be obeyed. The court would send its own officer 
to execute the writ. An application had been made to the 
local court for a writ of habeas corpus, and refused; and.it 
was now shewn to this court that John Anderson, a British 
subject, was illegally detained in prison, having been guilty 
of no crime cognizable by the law of England. There were 
precedents for this application, and he confidently submitted 
the mere fact that there were other courts which had a con- 



62 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

current jurisdiction would not deprive the applicant of that 
protection for which he now prayed the Court. 

The learned counsel then handed in the affidavit upon which 
he moved, and which was in these terms : 

"In the Queen's Bench. 

" The affidavit of Louis Alexis Chamerovzow, of No. 27, 
New Broad-street, in the city of London, Secretary of the 
British and Foreign Anti- Slavery Society. 

"I say, 1. That John AndersoD, of the city of Toronto, iu 
Her Majesty's Province of Canada, a British subject domiciled 
there, now is, as I verily believe, illegally detained in the 
criminal goal of the said city there, against his will, not 
having been legally accused, or charged with, or legally tried, 
or sentenced for the commission of any crime, or for any offence 
against, or recognized by the laws in force in the said province, 
or in any other part of Her Majesty's dominions, or not being 
otherwise liable to be imprisoned, or detained, under or by 
virtue of any such laws. 

"I verily believe, that unless a prematory writ of habeas 
corpus shall immediately issue by this honourable Court, the 
life of the said John Anderson is exposed to the greatest, and 
to immediate danger." 

Their Lordships then retired to consider their decision. 

During their Lordship's absence greatinterest was manifested 
by a large number of the bar, who were present, and their 
Lordship's return was waited for with the greatest anxiety. 
After a short absence, their Lordships returned and resumed 
their seats, and 

Lord Chief Justice Cockeuen said : We have considered 
this matter, and the result of our anxious deliberation is, that 
we are of opinion thai the writ ought to issue. "We are, at the 
same time, sensible of the inconvenience that may result from 
the exercise of such a jurisdiction. We are quite sensible 
that it may be felt to be inconsistent with that higher degree 
of colonial independence, both legislative and judicial, which 
has happily been carried into effect in modern times. At the 
same time, in establishing local legislation and local judicial 
authority, the Legislature has not gone so far as expressly to 
abrogate any jurisdiction which the courts in Westminster 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 63 

Hall might possess with reference to the issuing of a writ of 
habeas corpus to any of Her Majesty's dominions; and we 
find that the existence of that jurisdiction in these courts 
has "been asserted from the earliest times, and exercised down 
to the latest. We have it on the authority of my Lord Coke, 
we have it upon the authority of my Lord Mansfield, we 
have it upon the authority of Mr. Justice Blackstone, and on 
the authority of Bacons Abridgement — that these writs have 
been issued, and are to be issued, into all the dominions of 
the crown of England, wherever a subject of the crown is 
illegally imprisoned, and kept in custody ; and not only have 
we these authorities in the shape of dicta of most eminent 
judges and afterwards of text writers, but we have the prac- 
tical application of the doctrine in cases from the earliest 
period down to modern times. The more remarkable cases 
are the instances in which the writ of habeas corpus has issued 
into the Islands of Jersey and Man, and St. Helena : all this 
being in very modern times. Finding that upon these autho- 
rities it has been not only asserted as matter of doctrine, but 
carried into effect and execution as matter of practice ; that 
even where there were local judicatures, and local legisla- 
tures, the writ of habeas corpus has been issued into these 
dominions of the crown, we feel that nothing short of legisla- 
tive enactment, depriving this court of such a jurisdiction, 
would warrant us in omitting to carry it into effect, where 
we are called upon to do so for the protection of the personal 
liberty of the subject. It may be that the Legislature has 
thought proper, in its wisdom, to leave a concurrent jurisdic- 
tion between these courts and the colonial courts, as there 
has been, as very properly pointed out by Mr. James in his 
argument, between the different courts in Westminster Hall. 
We can only act on the authorities that have been brought 
before us, and we feel that we should not be doing that which 
it is our duty to do under the authority of the precedents to 
which our attention has been called, by refusing this writ ; 
therefore the writ must go. 

At the conclusion of the judgment there was a very general 
but suppressed expression of applause, and the countenances 
of all in court seemed lighted up with extreme pleasure at 
the result. — Writ of habeas corpus granted. 



64 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Mr. Dallas, the United States Minister in London, 
was no unconcerned spectator of the interest manifested 
in the fate of Anderson, as we find from a letter ad- 
dressed by that gentleman to the Secretary of State at 
Washington, dated January the 16th, the day after the 
issuing of the writ by the Lord Chief Justice. Mr. 
Dallas, in his despatch, informs the Secretary of State 
that, "The claim made by the United States upon the 
Government of Canada for the extradition of one, Ander- 
son, a fugitive slave, charged with the crime of murder, 
had awakened, as of course, so much interest in Eng- 
land, and invoked so much professional astuteness to 
defeat the operation of the 10th article of the treaty of 
1842, that he had thought it expedient to place in pos- 
session of the department, all the papers published in 
England relating to the subject." His Excellency then 
went on to say that " it was scarcely necessary for him to 
remark on the pungent and uncompromising hostility to 
social bondage, which prevailed throughout this country; 
that, as it had already led to giving by statute to the 
American slave who deserts his ship, a discriminating 
immunity over the freeman, so it could not be expected 
to shrink from another manifestation on the interpreta- 
tion of an international convention for the mutual sur- 
render of culprits. In truth it might be said, generally, 
that in British opinion, the status of slavery incapaci- 
tated the individual for contract or crime." His Excel- 
lency further called the special attention of the Secretary 
of State to the fact "that Lord Chief Justice Cockburn 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 65 

had, with surprising celerity allowed a writ of Habeas 
Corpus, addressed to the jailer in Canada to issue, and 
that Anderson would thereupon be brought to England, 
notwithstanding the very full and deliberate decision of 
the Colonial Court ordering him to be delivered up." 

The excitement throughout Great Britain at this time 
was universal, and the sympathy in behalf of Anderson, 
profound and ardent. The question was discussed in all 
the newspapers, and, with scarcely an exception, the 
writers were in favour of refusing to the demand of the 
United States Government, the surrender of the fugitive 
who had sought an asylum on British territory, and 
whose offence was no crime in the eye of British law. 
The following article which appeared in the Times, 
justly represented the public opinion. After a careful 
analysis of the facts in the case, as stated in the Canadian 
Court, it said, — 

" In their hearts and consciences the Canadian autho- 
rities must have felt that Anderson slew his enemy in 
defence of all that man holds dear ; they must have felt 
that to surrender him to his pursuers to be burnt alive 
— a fate probably reserved for him — would be a most 
dreadful responsibility, and yet, as judges bound to 
administer the law uprightly, they may have hardly 
seen how to evade the conclusion. We are not sur- 
prised, therefore, to find that they have taken refuge in 
indecision, and remitted the case successively from 
one court to another. First the magistrates gave up 
the attempt, and referred the matter to the Attorney- 

F 



66 LIFE OF JOHN AXDE^tSON. 

General ; then the Attorney-General, after two months' 
consideration, alleged his incompetence ; and now the 
Court of Queen's Bench has cognizance of the question, 
by which tribunal it must be finally decided. Before 
this time, indeed, judgment has doubtless been given, 
though on which side it would be hard to conjecture. 

" We suppose there will be hardly a man in England 
who will not hope for the success even of his forcible 
rescue if things come to that extremity. The fate, 
probably, in store, at this crisis of Southern fanaticism, 
for a slave w^ho not only ran away but killed the white 
planter who attempted to arrest him, is too shocking to 
think of, and yet the Missouri agents may establish their 
case. The truth is, that such complications must for 
ever be contingent upon institutions like that of slavery. 
Wherever an institution is at variance in its very essence 
with the moral instincts of our nature, the antagonism 
thus created will pervade every question concerning it. 
All except slaveholders will judge this case by feelings 
which they will place above the law. They may not carry 
their convictions to the length of breaking the law, but 
in their hearts they will condemn it, and will sympathize 
with the offender. This is a conflict of laws, which can 
never be terminated by any political compromise or 
legal adjustment. It must prevail as long as slavery 
prevails, for slavery cannot prevail without enactments 
against which humanity rebels. Nature and law are 
therefore forced into collision, and under such conditions 
no peace can be reasonably expected." 



PROCEEDINGS IX ENGLAND. 67 

In a subsequent article the same journal remarked, — 
" But are we, therefore, to surrender this man to the 
cruel fate which awaits him in the neighbouring State ? 
The suggestion is preposterous. That we, who look 
with such scorn upon the little State of Saxony for 
delivering up a Hungarian nobleman who had trusted 
to her hospitality, should, in our strength and our gran- 
deur, deliver up a wretched slave who had run for our 
soil as to the ark of freedom, may be argued as logical 
necessity in a court of law, but is an obvious impos- 
sibility as a fact. How it will be we do not pretend to 
foretell. How the logical necessity will be shown to be 
a practical impossibility, we are by no means prepared 
to explain ; but very confident we are that this negro 
is at this moment as safe, in the prison of Toronto, from 
ever being sent before a Missouri jury of slave owners 
as he would be if he were in the wilds of Central Africa. 
Meanwhile, as we gather from the report, there is no 
immediate hurry, or any danger of any steps being taken 
to carry out the judgment. From the decision of the 
Queen's Bench, there is, it appears, by the Canadian 
Law, an appeal to the Bench of Judges, and thence 
again, there is an appeal, as we understand, to the Privy 
Council in England. Although we may fear that upon 
the broad question of law, the decision of English 
lawyers must concur with that of the Queen's Bench of 
Canada; and although the ingenuity of counsel and of 
anxious judges may fail to discover any technical objec- 
tion which may vitiate the proceedings, yet time will be 



68 LIFE OF JOHN AKDERSOX. 

afforded for the intervention of diplomacy, within the pro- 
vince of which a difficulty of this character specially falls. 
It is not because we have heedlessly gone into an engage- 
ment which involves an unsuspected obligation to burn an 
innocent man. that we are therefore to burn him. It is 
not because we have blindly and unknowingly bound 
ourselves systematically to outrage all the common laws 
of God and humanity, that w r e are therefore now, as a 
matter of course, to do the first act and to take the first 
step by the same means as the Romans used to adopt 
when they desired to commit themselves to some nefa- 
rious enterprise — by the sacrifice of a slave. As a topic 
of transatlantic excitement, this slave case may have its 
interest, but on this side of the Atlantic we are too 
profoundly convinced of the unpractical character of 
the contest to be very anxious about it." 

The following appeared in the Weekly Dispatch : — 
" Can any man think it possible that the English nation 
would submit to the rendition of Anderson ? Suppose 
the man had escaped to London instead of Toronto ; 
suppose the British Cabinet had been called upon to 
adjudicate in the matter. How long would they have 
waited ? And even though they might think the case 
technically within the treaty, can any one for a moment 
doubt their decision ? With America, above all other 
people, Great Britain desires to remain at peace ; but 
treaty or no treaty, ' there he is, touch him if you dare,' 
would have been, if necessary, the reply to the infamous 
demand. No English minister, as he loves the honour 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 69 

of his country, as he would be saved from universal 
execration, hatred, and contempt, could surrender a 
fugitive slave, guilty of no other crime than that of 
winning his liberty by the death of his oppressor." 

It is justly due to the committee of the British and 
Foreign and Anti-Slavery Society, and more especially 
to the able secretary of that society, Mr. Lewis Alexis 
Chamerovzow, who laboured with indefatigable zeal in 
the cause of Anderson, and to whom the credit belongs 
of preparing the various documents put forth from time 
to time by the society, to record the measures which 
were adopted by that body, and to give insertion to the 
more important of their manifestoes. 

The first notice of the case appeared in the Anti- 
Slavery Reporter of January, 1861, under the head of 
of " Fugitive Slave Extradition Case." The article 
contained the leading particulars connected with the 
encounter between Anderson and the slaveholder 
Diggs, and quoted the following from the Toronto 
Globe :— 

"The Ashburton Treaty was not an agreement 
between Canada and the State of Missouri, but between 
Great Britain and the United States, and is not to be 
interpreted by statutes either imperial or provincial, but 
by the law of nations. * * * The law of arrest in 
Missouri is not the law of the Union, but the law of 
the State, or the law of a municipality within the 
Union. * * * The Government of Canada in sub- 
mitting the matter to the law courts, acted unwisely. 



70 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

It should have decided for itself whether or not the case 
came within the meaning of the treaty." 

The committee took early steps to bring the case 
under the notice of the friends of the anti-slavery cause 
throughout Great Britain, and moved them to address 
earnest memorials to the Duke of Newcastle, praying 
him to interpose to prevent the extradition of John 
Anderson from being carried into effect. Their appeal 
met with an encouraging response. The committee 
themselves, as we have already stated, addressed a 
memorial to his Grace, " earnestly, but respectfully be- 
seeching him to interpose his influence and authority, 
not only to save a fellow creature from a fate horrible 
to contemplate, but to preserve inviolate those funda- 
mental principles of justice and humanity, which are the 
foundation of all law — and those personal rights 
guaranteed by the British Constitution to every man, 
whatever his colour, who is unconvicted of crime/' 

" The committee feel (says the memorial) that the 
issue of this most painful case involves consequences 
most important to the safety of the fugitives from slavery 
who have already found an asylum in Canada — some 
forty thousand in number — and also their unhappy 
kindred who may attempt to seek refuge and protection 
there. If the interpretation put upon the particular 
clause of the Ashburton Treaty, under which Anderson 
is claimed, be admitted, there is not a refugee from 
slavery now in Canada, who under one pretext or other 
may not be claimed and remanded into slavery.'' 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 71 

In addition to this memorial, the committee, as we 
have shown, notified the Duke of Newcastle on the 10th 
of January, that a motion would be made in the Court 
of Queen's Bench for a writ of Habeas Corpus to issue 
to those having the custody of the person of Anderson, 
requiring them to produce him in Court. 

The following are the comments of the Reporter upon 
the proceedings in the Court of Queen's Bench. 

" Our readers will gather from a perusal of our 
columns, the exact position in which the case of the 
fugitive slave, John Anderson, at present stands. The 
warrant under the Habeas Corpus has been handed over 
for service to the solicitor, Mr. W. A. Dean, engaged 
by the committee of the British and Foreign Anti- 
Slavery Society to conduct the case. It has been for- 
warded, in duplicate, to the Society's correspondent at 
Toronto, who will duly execute it. As soon as possible, 
— for the writ is imperative — Anderson will be brought 
to England, and produced on the floor of the Court of 
Queen's Bench, when a return to the writ will be made 
in due form. The Court will then consider, upon the 
motion of counsel, whether Anderson is legally detained ; 
and hereupon will be raised the great question which 
the demand for his extradition involves, namely, whe- 
ther, under any circumstances whatsoever, a slave who 
has sought an asylum on British soil can be surrendered. 
We are, of course, most anxious for the liberation of 
Anderson, but we must not forget, that upon the issue 
of this case hang the liberty and the life of many thou- 



72 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

sands of British subjects — refugee slaves in Canada — 
and that even were the Ashburton Treaty held to be 
protective of the person of refugees from slavery there, 
we should not feel satisfied unless the great principle 
were established that no slave will ever be surrendered 
who has once touched British soil. We believe the 
judges who decided in favour of Anderson's rendition 
to have been utterly in the wrong, for their decision is 
rendered, in the very teeth of the letter, not to say the 
spirit, of the treaty, and of the statutes confirming it. 
But if they are right, our remedy is a very simple one, 
for we have but to signify to the government of the 
dis-United States that we desire the treaty to cease in 
its operation, and no more fugitives nor criminals can 
be claimed for extradition under it. It will be seen, 
therefore, that we have a much loftier object in view 
than to secure a mere equitable interpretation of this 
instrument. 

11 The question which will be raised as to the nature 
of the crime with which he is charged, will at once lead 
to an investigation of the circumstances under which it 
was committed. It will be found impossible to discon- 
nect them from a consideration of his condition at the 
time, and we hold that no straining of the letter of the 
law can justify the surrender of a man, who in his con- 
dition as a slave, has been deprived of all the rights of 
citizenship, and therefore stands absolved from all the 
responsibilities of a citizen. 

••Some time is likely to elapse before Anderson reaches 



PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. 73 

this country. We shall have the opportunity, therefore, 
of again and again addressing our readers upon this 
subject, and shall submit to them certain points which 
have suggested themselves to us in the course of our 
study of this most remarkable and interesting case. 

" Meanwhile we must not lose this opportunity of 
dwelling for a moment upon the zeal and ability dis- 
played in conducting this case by Mr. Edwin James, 
Q.C., M.P., and his coadjutors, Messrs. F. S. Flood, 
and J. G. Allan. The thanks of the friends of hu- 
manity are fairly due to these gentlemen, and especially 
to Mr. F. Solly Flood, whose profound researches after 
precedents applicable to this instance, as illustrated in 
the case he conducted of the Queen v. Lees, were 
most generously and handsomely admitted by Mr. James 
to have been of the greatest value to him, and were, 
in fact, the grounds upon which the court declared 
that a writ of Habeas Corpus could issue to Canada. 
Mr. Flood is a learned antiquarian lawyer, is quite 
familiar with the laws of the Slave States, and, from 
a long residence in America, is equally familiar also 
with the legal history of inter-State extradition cases ; 
Anderson is, therefore, likely to have the benefit of the 
best advice. 

"To obtain the declaration of the great principle to 
which we have adverted is the more important, because 
it is erroneously supposed that it was established in the 
case of the slave, Somersett. Lord Mansfield, however, 
only declared that the slave was free who came into 



74 



LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 



this country, not that a slave could never be given up. 
The Scotch Courts, on the contrary, asserted the 
broader principle ; and it is to obtain the admission of 
this principle as a basis of legislation in similar cases, 
we are now anxious that our anti-slavery friends should 
turn their attention. " 

The writ, issued by the Court of Queen's Bench, was 
dispatched by the first Canadian mail, and, by the same 
means a letter from Lord John Russell to the Govern- 
ment of Canada, instructing the acting Governor "To 
facilitate the action of any officer of the Court of Queen's 
Bench at Westminster sent to bring the prisoner Ander- 
son to England." This despatch was crossed on its way 
to Canada by a mail bringing from Sir W. Williams, 
acting Governor, a reply, dated January 26th, to the 
Duke of Newcastle's despatch of the 9th of January, — 
" Being fully impressed (says Sir W. Williams) with 
the importance and gravity of the case, I had made up 
my mind to take no step in the matter without the 
express direction of Her Majesty's Government ; and I 
ghali not fail to follow closely your Grace's instructions." 






PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. 75 



CHAPTEE X. 

PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA— THIRD WRIT OF HABEAS 
CORPUS— DISCHARGE OF ANDERSON. 

Writ granted by the Court of Common Pleas, Canada. — The Case 
argued, February 1st. ; Judgment delivered, February 16th. — 
Opinion of Mr. Justice Draper. — Comments on the termination of 
the Struggle. — Course taken by the Canadian Press. 

We again return to Canada to perform the grateful duty 
of recording the proceedings which led to the discharge 
of the fugitive slave after more than eight months' con- 
finement in jail. 

On the 1st of February, 1861, a new writ of Habeas 
Corpus was granted by Chief Justice Draper, of the 
Court of Common Pleas in Canada, addressed to the 
sheriff and keeper of the jail of the County of Brant, 
returnable on the 8th of the same month. On the 9th, 
Anderson was produced in court, and arguments at 
great length were heard on his behalf. It was urged, — 

First That the prisoner was entitled to the writ on 
which he was brought before the Court, and, upon the 
return to that writ, to have inquired into the matters 
charged against him. Second. That the evidence was not 
sufficient to put him upon his trial for the crime of 



76 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

murder; assuming that he was entitled to the pro- 
tection of British law. Third, That the treaty requires 
that a charge under it should be first laid in the States, 
and that the evidence did not show that any charge had 
been laid against the prisoner. Fourth. That even if 
we are bound to administer this law of Missouri, the 
evidence did not shew that this State of Missouri had any 
power to pass such a law, and it cannot be presumed 
that she had that power, inasmuch as she is but a muni- 
cipality in relation to other Governments, and the law is 
against natural justice. Fifth. That the word " murder" 
mentioned in the treaty, means murder according to the 
laws of both countries ; and, if not, that by the treaty 
itself, and our statute, the crime charged is to be deter- 
mined by the laws of Canada — that is, the criminal ty is 
to be determined by the laws of Canada. 

After hearing the evidence, Chief Justice Draper 
said, "that the Court desired to dispose of this case as 
quickly as possible, so that Anderson might not be 
kept in custody any longer than was necessary, if the 
decision went in his favour; but it was questionable 
whether, if judgment was to be given on all the points 
involved, the case could be decided during the present 
term. At all events they would give the prisoner the 
benefit of a speedy discharge if they came to an opinion 
in his favour on the technical point as to the insufficiency 
of the commitment. On this question they would pro- 
bably be able to give a decision that day week, the last 
day of term. An order would be made for the prisoner 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. 77 

to be brought up next Saturday, February 16th, and in 
the meantime he would be committed to the custody of 
the sheriffs of the united counties of York and Peel." 

On Saturday, the 16th of February, the Court of 
Common Pleas, as was generally anticipated, discharged 
Anderson, on the ground that the warrant of 

COMMITMENT WAS NOT ISSUED IN CONFORMITY WITH 

THE statute, because — 1st It did not contain a charge 
of murder, but merely of felonious homicide ; whereas 
neither the treaty nor the statute either authorize a 
surrender, or a committal for the purpose of surrender, 
for any homicide not expressed to be murder. 2nd. 
That the warrant was not expressed to be " for the 
purpose of surrender," but only until the prisoner should 
be discharged by due course of law, whereas the statute 
requires both. Upon the merits of the question itself no 
judgment was given. 

The following extract from Chief Justice Draper's 
judgment will show what he thought of the case : — 
" I have, so far as the limited time and the pressure of 
the business during the week would permit, considered 
some of the questions involved. I have at least been 
able to appreciate the difficulty of disposing of them. 
One doubt arises on the threshold, namely, whether 
the statute gives the Court power to look into the depo- 
sitions and to adjudge whether they contain evidence 
of criminality sufficient to sustain the charge of murder. 
It is easy to suggest objections to the placing the power 
of exclusive and final adjudication on this point in the 



78 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

hands of a single Justice, even although his decision is 
not binding on the Government, to whom he must 
certify the same, and the evidence, and on whom rests 
the ultimate responsibility of surrendering or refusing 
to surrender the prisoner. Still, however weighty I 
might deem such objections, if the statute does confer 
that jurisdiction on a single judge or justice of the 
peace, the statute must be obeyed. And I am free to 
confess that there is some difficulty in affirming that this 
Court can review the decision of the judge or justice 
without running counter to the opinion expressed in 
ex parte Besset. But conceding that we have that pro- 
vince, and as a necessary incident to it to bring the 
depositions before us by certiorari (as to which some 
technical objections may be suggested), I require 
further time before I can adopt as a principle of the law, 
that because a man is a slave in a country where slavery 
is legalized, he is legally incapable of committing a 
crime, that he is not to be deemed a "prisoner" who 
may be charged with an offence. Nor am I prepared 
to decide that on a charge of murder, sufficiently sus- 
tained by evidence to warrant his being committed for 
trial according to our law, the prisoner accused of that 
crime would not be within the meaning of the treaty, 
because, if acquitted on a trial in the country where the 
accusation arose, he would be detained- in bondage as a 
slave, or because it might be feared, and even with 
reason feared, that because he was a slave he would not 
be treated in the same spirit of justice and impartiality as 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. 79 

a freeman before the tribunals of a foreign State where 
slavery is established by local law. Or, take a possible 
case to arise in a Free State, let it be supposed that a slave 
flies from a Slave State into a Free State, whose laws, 
nevertheless, unlike our own happy institutions, sanction 
and require his surrender merely as a slave — that the fugi- 
tive kills an officer of the Free State who is endeavour- 
ing, under regular process, to arrest and detain him 
with a view to his surrender, and, having killed the 
officer, escapes into this province, I do not yet see any 
way to the conclusion that we could hold the case not 
to be within the treaty, and the act so clearly not to be 
murder, that there would be nothing for a jury to try, 
but that the Court could dispose of it as a pure question 
of law. For if there be a question of fact to be tried, 
I apprehend he must be surrendered, as such question 
could only be tried in the country where the fact arose. 
These and other similar questions are of too serious a 
character to be decided upon impulse, or in haste, and 
I do not scruple to say that, so long as the prisoner 
sustains no prejudice by the delay, I desire to defer 
pronouncing an opinion upon them. I am reluctant on 
the one hand where the accuser does not make it indis- 
pensable to declare that each individual of the assumed 
number of 4,000,000 of slaves in the Southern States 
may commit assassination in aid of his escape on any 
part of his route to this province, and find impunity and 
shelter on his arrival here. I am reluctant, on the other 
hand, to admit that Great Britain has entered into 






80 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

treaty obligations to surrender a fugitive slave who, as 
his sole means of obtaining liberty, has shed the blood 
of the merciless taskmaster who held him in bondage. 
An occasion may arise when it will be my duty to 
adjudge one way or the other. But the necessity does 
not exist at present, and I am not afraid to avow that I 
rejoice at it. I am, however, glad that the discussion 
has taken place, that the doubts and difficulties it sug- 
gests have been brought prominently forward. The 
power of dealing with them is in the hands of others, 
and the necessity of dealing with them must, I think, 
be felt by those who possess the power." 

We conclude this part of our narrative with the fol- 
lowing article from the Toronto Globe, a paper to which 
the cause of justice and liberty is deeply indebted. 

"On Saturday, February 16th, at noon, Anderson was 
brought before the judges of the Common Pleas, and 
discharged from custody on the ground of informality 
in the warrant on which he was committed to Brantford 
Jail. We- publish elsewhere a full report of the deci- 
sions of the judges, from which it will be seen that the 
discharge has been ordered on two distinct grounds. 
First. The warrant of commitment recites that Ander- 
son stands charged for that he did 'Wilfully, maliciously, 
and feloniously, stab and kill one Seneca T. P. Diggs, 
of Howard County,' which might only amount to man- 
slaughter; whereas the judges decide, that to come 
within the provisions of the treaty, the charge must 
be one of 'murder.' Second. The warrant commits 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. 81 

Anderson to the jail of Brantford 'Until lie shall be 
discharged according to law ;' whereas, the judges de- 
cide, he should have been committed ^ Until surrender 
he made, or until he shall be discharged according to 
law.' 

" We heartily congratulate the people of Canada on 
the narrow escape we have thus made from what would 
have been a deep and indelible stain on the fair fame 
of our country. For ourselves, we deeply regret that 
Anderson's discharge has not been ordered on broader 
and nobler grounds ; but at least we can all heartily 
rejoice that the poor fugitive to our shores, who dared 
to strike a freeman's blow for liberty, will not be sur- 
rendered by Canadian hands to be burnt at the stake 
by exulting traffickers in human blood ! 

" Anderson is now among his friends; but he is still 
liable to re-arrest on documents prepared more carefully 
than the last. The danger, however, is by no means 
what it was. It is to be hoped that no second Mathews 
is to be found in the magistracy of Canada, and if, un- 
happily, there was another such, good care will, we 
fancy, be taken that Anderson shall not be found until 
the intent and meaning of the Extradition Treaty in 
regard to slaves has been authoritatively determined. 

"By the discharge of Anderson, the writ of Habeas 
Corpus, issued by the Court of Queens Bench of Eng- 
land, has been rendered unnecessary and inoperative. 
Anderson is no longer in the custody of any of the 
parties to whom the writ was directed, and therefore 

a 



82 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

they cannot carry him to England. Moreover, the 
parties who applied for the intervention of the English 
Court have obtained the immediate end they sought, by 
the discharge of the prisoner. We confess that we are 
glad that this is so. We entirely sympathise with the 
feeling which induced the application for, and the 
granting of the writ. The peculiarity of this case of 
Anderson would have justified a great stretch of autho- 
rity that tended to save the unfortunate man from the 
vengeance of his enemies ; but it would be neither 
convenient nor consistent with the independence of the 
Canadian people that English judges should have the 
power to ignore our courts, and issue their writs to our 
sheriffs and jailers as if we had no provincial judges. 
We presume the legality of the proceeding in the view 
of an English lawyer is not doubtful, but assuredly it is 
not in harmony with the right of self-government 
claimed by Canada, and fully conceded to her. 

"All the proceedings connected with Anderson's case 
show clearly that there is an urgent necessity not only 
for an immediate explanation between the British and 
American Governments as to the applicability of the 
Extradition Treaty to fugitives from slavery, but also 
for a revisal of the Canadian statutes riving effect to 
the treaty. It will be seen from Chief Justice Draper's 
decision, that a doubt is expressed whether the Court 
has any power to look into the depositions on which a 
prisoner is demanded under the treaty — whether it has 
any authority at all to examine the evidence so as to 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. 83 

judge if it sustain the charge preferred ? It is unneces- 
sary to argue whether Mr. Draper is right or wrong 
in this view ; if a doubt exists on such a point it should 
be settled at once. Not one of the thousands of fugi- 
tives who have sought refuge in our country would be 
safe for a week were this affirmed to be the law. The 
slave hunter would be on the track of his victims, and 
affidavits of murder, perjury, arson, or anything else, 
concocted by the hundred, the moment it was ascer- 
tained that the facts alleged could not be enquired into, 
but the oath of the slave catcher held as final. We 
trust the friends of freedom in Great Britain will press 
this matter at once on the attention of the Home 
Government. The amendment of the Canadian statute 
will unquestionably be demanded immediately on the 
assembling of Parliament. 

" Apart from the great principles at stake in this case, 
we confess to a feeling of no ordinary gratification at 
the manner in which it has terminated. But for the 
firm and prompt intervention of the press, it is certain 
that Anderson would have been given up to the slave- 
holders, and Canada disgraced for ever. We can afford 
now to recall with contempt the abuse poured upon us, 
because, forsooth, we dared to call in question the 
propriety of Chief Justice Robinson's decision. The 
course we took has not only been thoroughly sustained 
by public opinion in our own country and in Great 
Britain, but the continued discussion of the case has 
secured Anderson's discharge by Chief Justice Robin- 



84 LITE OF JOHN ASDEESOX. 

son's brother judges. Nay, the very case — the Besset 
case — on which Mr. Draper mainly rests his decision 
was first brought into the discussion through the columns 
of the Globe. n 

Canada is not sufficiently removed from the United 
States to be free from that vile, unchristian prejudice 
against colour which is the reproach and crime of the 
majority of the people of the American Republic, and, 
consequently, there was to be found a paper in Toronto 
base enough to prostitute its columns to the work of 
villifying the Negro race, and of resisting their claims 
to the rights which the laws of Canada guarantee to all 
who seek a dwelling under their protection. This 
paper had its supporters or it could not have existed. 
Its patrons, we are compelled to believe, were in favour 
of the rendition of Anderson, but the people in their 
masses demanded his release, as did also the larger 
portion of the more elevated classes, who heartily wished 
success to the means employed for his deliverance from 
the meshes his enemies had cast around him. 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 85 



CHAPTER XL 

JOHN ANDEESON IN ENGLAND. 

Anderson leaves Canada for England. — Arrives in London.— Grr eat 
reception meeting at Exeter Hall. — Speeches of Mr. Harper Twelve- 
trees ; the Kev. Hugh Allen, D.D. ; the Eev. Jabez Burns, D.D. ; 
the Rev. W. H. Bonner ; John Anderson ; the Eev. T. M. Kin- 
naird ; the Eev. J. G-. Hewlett, D.D. ; Mr. William Craft ; the 
Rev. Edward Mathews, &c. 

There were many friends of John Anderson in Canada 
who would have been happy to have promoted his future 
interests in that country, if he had been disposed to 
continue there ; but he felt a strong inclination to visit 
England. He was not free from an apprehension of 
being again annoyed by proceedings for his extradition, 
for well he knew the perseverance and implacability of 
his enemies, and how ready to forward their designs 
were numerous base persons both in Upper and Lower 
Canada. In England, he would not only be free but 
secure, and might enjoy his liberty without the fear of 
persecution, and the ultimate loss of the blessing he 
had for the present obtained. 

During the three months following his liberation, he 
received from the friends of freedom in Toronto and 
Montreal the utmost possible kindness. Bidding them 



86 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

farewell, with a grateful heart he sailed for Liverpool, 
where he arrived in the middle of June, and after a short 
stay, and hospitable treatment there, started for London. 
Soon after his arrival in the Metropolis, he was introduced 
to a number of friends of the anti-slavery cause, who 
deemed his advent upon our shores a proper occasion 
for the holding of a great meeting, of which the follow- 
ing report appeared in the public journals : — 

MEETING OF WELCOME. 

On Tuesday evening, July 2nd, one of the largest and 
most enthusiastic public meetings ever held in the Metro- 
polis assembled in Exeter Hall for the purpose of express- 
ing its sympathy with John Anderson, the fugitive 
slave, and of offering him a cordial welcome on his arrival 
in England. Mr. Harper Twelvetrees, of Eversley 
House, Bromley-by-Bow, occupied the chair; and 
amongst the gentlemen on the platform, were the Rev. 
Hugh Allen, D.D. ; the Rev. Jabez Burns, D.D. ; the 
Rev. J. G. Hewlett, D.D. ; the Rev. W. H. Bonner ; 
the Rev. W. A. Blake ; the Rev. G. W. Mc Cree ; the 
Rev. T. J. Messer ; the Rev. G. Berkeley, of Jersey ; 
the Rev. E. Mathews ; the Rev. John Sidney Hall ; 
the Rev. P. Pocock ; the Rev. Thomas Jones ; the Rev. 
T. M. Kinnaird, (a coloured Clergyman) ; the Rev. G. 
T. Home ; Henry Hanks, Esq. ; E. Burr, Esq. ; Wil- 
liam Farmer, Esq.; Thomas Hattersley, Esq. ; Cooke 
Baines, Esq.; Joseph A. Horner, Esq.; F. L. H. Collins, 
Esq. ; Colonel Raines ; T. R. Kemp, Esq. ; William 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 87 

Craft, Esq. ; Robert Rae, Esq. ; A. W. Sanderson, Esq. ; 
General Riley ; and a considerable number of members 
of the Anti-Slavery Associations. 

Upon John Anderson's appearance on the platform, 
leaning on the arm of Mr. Twelvetrees, he was received 
with loud and prolonged cheering, accompanied by 
waving of hats and handkerchiefs, and other demonstra- 
tions of enthusiasm, which he repeatedly acknowledged 
by bowing. 

The proceedings having been opened by a brief but 
appropriate prayer, by the Rev. Dr. Hewlett, 

Cooke Baines, Esq., one of the Hon. Secretaries, 
informed the meeting that letters had been received from 
several influential persons, regretting their inability to 
attend. Amongst these were the Right Hon. the Earl 
of Shaftesbury, H. B. Sheridan, Esq., M.P., T. S. Dun- 
combe, Esq., M.P., George Thompson, Esq., the Rev. 
C. H. Spurgeon, &c, &c. Lord Shaftesbury stated that 
he was unable to preside at the meeting as requested, 
but added, " I desire to express the warmest interest in 
the case of John Anderson, and will be happy to con- 
tribute to any fund that may be raised on his behalf," 
Mr. Sheridan said that "he deeply sympathised with the 
much ill-used man, Anderson, and trusted that means 
w^ould be taken to place him in a position to earn his 
living in this country, believing that he would show by 
his conduct, that a slave was capable of becoming as 
good a citizen as a man of . another colour." Mr. Dun- 
combe "could not be present at the meeting on account 



88 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

of a promise to attend the debate in the House of Com- 
mons on the affairs of Poland, but he wished it to be 
understood that he warmly sympathised with the object 
which they were met to promote." Mr. George Thomp- 
son was absent in the North of England, but he had 
expressed his willingness to do all in his power to assist 
John Anderson. The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon had taken 
a lively interest in John Anderson, and would have been 
present that evening if he could possibly have attended. 
Mr. Baines proceeded to state, that "Anderson was very 
desirous, as were also the members of the committee, 
that his wife and children, who were at present in slavery, 
should be in this land of freedom with him. (Cheers.) 
The object of the meeting that evening, therefore, was 
to enable him to get his wife and children over as soon 
as possible, and he (Mr. Baines) hoped that every man 
and every woman would leave the hall with a sincere 
determination of doing all in their power to assist him 
in accomplishing that object." (Applause.) 

The Chairman, who was enthusiastically received, 
said it had become customary, he believed, for those who 
occupied the chair at Exeter Hall to apologise for doing 
so, and to express regret on account of their inability 
to discharge the duties of their office worthily. But, 
although he was as conscious of his shortcomings as any 
of those noblemen or gentlemen who had preceded him 
in the occupancy of that chair, he would not weary the 
meeting with vain regrets, but merely say that he 
accepted the invitation to preside with timidity, mingled 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 89 

with considerable pleasure, (Hear, hear) because he felt 
assured that he might rely on the kind consideration, 
sympathy, and forbearance of an Exeter Hall audience, 
assembled for a philanthropic object — not for any politi- 
cal or factious purpose, not for the purpose of express- 
ing an opinion respecting the present crisis in America, 
nor to discuss the policy of the North or South. They 
had met there that night, as he understood, to do honour 
to their principles as philanthropists and christians — to 
express their earnest and unswerving belief in the great 
truth which spans like a rainbow the whole heavens of 
humanity — " God hath made of one blood all nations of 
men " — to assert their determination to recognise man as 
man all the world over, and to proclaim to the world that 
as Englishmen they have no sympathy with those who bar- 
barise, oppress, and ill-treat humanity. They purposed 
also to render some practical assistance, as well as to give 
an enthusiastic welcome to a Brother — who, hunted as a 
fugitive, had just finished a desperate struggle for liberty, 
that sweetest boon of Heaven ; and having narrowly 
escaped the baying of the bloodhounds and the tortures 
of death by fire, had come while still panting with his 
run for life, to seek an asylum in our country — in this 
our happy England — with its free soil, free institutions, 
and free speech — (Great applause) where the bruised, 
the burdened, and oppressed of every name and nation 
are beyond the reach of tyrants' arms — where colour is 
no crime — but where human rights are sacred, and 
freedom, liberty, and justice are secured to all who tread 






90 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

our shores. (Loud cheers.) In his few opening re- 
marks, he did not intend to dwell upon the personal 
history of the pitiable and trembling fugitive before them, 
but would leave that duty to some of the gentlemen who 
had consented to take part in the Meeting. He confessed, 
however, to a wish that Anderson could tell the story of 
his life upon every hearthstone in the Kingdom, for he felt 
assured that every husband, wife, and child would listen 
with strange and tearful earnestness while he told them 
of the loved ones whom he had left in sorrow and bond- 
age, with no acknowledged rights ; and who, though 
owned by God, were yet owned and bound and scarred 
by man, and might be mangled and butchered at the 
will of their owner. (Sensation and cheers.) He trusted 
the meeting would allow him a few moments' licence 
whilst he drew their attention to the strange anomaly, 
that a country like America — known as a Christian 
country — a country which had subscribed to the immor- 
tal Declaration of Independence — a country which is 
boasted of as "the land of the brave and the home of 
the free," should yet be steeped in the diabolical and 
accursed sin of slavery. The American people, he 
remarked, would listen with eagerness and interest to 
the wrono-s endured by distant nations; but the ears of 
human sympathy were doggedly closed to the piteous 
cries and bitter waitings of the slave. (Cheers). The 
fugitive slave had no home in that great Republic, and 
was not even allowed to pass peaceably through the Free 
States to find a home in a more favoured country, where, 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 91 

under the sway of our own emancipating Queen, he 
might find equal rights and privileges, and enjoy the 
immunities of nationality and freedom. (Loud cheers.) 
Did they ask, how it was that although the soil of 
America had been cultivated for centuries by slaves, 
they should themselves be strangers and foreigners — 
aliens in their native land — and despisedly placed be- 
yond the pale of both secular and religious authority ? 
The secret was to be found in " the Bond" of the 
Federal Union, which was " ordained to establish justice, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
liberty to themselves and their posterity ;" for there, 
among great swelling words of liberty, it was recorded 
that there was not an inch of ground within the limits 
of the great American Eepublic which was not mort- 
gaged to Slavery ! (Cries of " Shame" and Applause). 
That anomalous instrument clearly establishes the fact 
that there was not a foot of soil in that Republic which 
does not bear the bloody endorsement in favour of 
slavery, for "the Bond" provides that the slave-hunter 
and his blood-hounds may seize his trembling victim 
on the holiest spot of this "land of the free !" (Loud 
cheers.) No wonder then that from the judicial seat of 
that mighty Government came the shameful, disgraceful, 
wicked, and diabolical decision that "no person along 
whose veins coursed one drop of African blood had rights 
that a white man need respect." No wonder that human 
souls and immortal destinies were there bartered for the 
meanest merchandize of earth, and that the wailings of 



92 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

despair were ascending to God botli night and day from 
human beings scarred, bruised, and branded within the 
shades of the capital of the boasting American Republic ! 
("Shame!" and cheers). He could not refrain from 
using strong, plain, and unmistakeable language when 
referring to this atrocious abomination. No language, 
to his mind, could be too strong, too vehement, or too 
denunciatory, for he was sure that, as Mrs. Stowe had 
eloquently said, "nothing could be spoken or conceived 
equalling the frightful reality of scenes daily and hourly 
acted beneath the aegis of American law, and the shadow 
of the cross of Christ." After all that might be said on 
the subject that evening, they would only be able to 
realize a dim picture of the despair that was at that 
moment riving thousands of hearts, shattering thousands 
of families, and driving a helpless and sensitive race to 
absolute frenzy and despair. The condition of the 
slave was that of the brute beast — a piece of property 
— a marketable commodity — his own good, his con- 
science, his intellect, and his affections, were ruthlessly 
set aside by his master. He was spoken of, dealt with, 
thought of, and treated as property. He was fed and 
clothed with a view to increase his value as property, 
and deprived of everything that tends in the slightest 
degree to detract from such value. The slaveholder 
declared that even that intellect which God had given 
him should not be cultivated, nor his moral perceptions 
exercised. Deprived by law of the right of marriage, 
the slave was exposed to influences which he should 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 93 

blush to describe in their hearing (cheers) ; and if any 
of these pitiable objects found for themselves honest, 
upright, and virtuous companions, they lived in constant 
apprehension of being torn asunder by the merciless 
men-stealers who claimed them as their property 
(" Shame!" and loud applause). Another dark feature 
of the shameful system was, that no education was 
permitted to the slave — he was forbidden by the law 
even to learn to read, and the gospel was thus shut out 
from the dark mind of the bondman. In Louisiana, if 
a slave-mother were found instructing her children, the 
law proclaimed that she might be hanged by the neck, 
and that a father attempting to give his son a knowledge 
of letters, might be punished or killed at the discretion 
of the Court. It ought also to be borne in mind, that 
the physical evils of slavery, the cruelties practised, and 
the modes of torture employed, were the most revolting 
that could be conceived. We could never hear of 
these villainous atrocities without shuddering, but still 
it was right that we should know that the bloody whip, 
the chain, the red-hot brand, the gag, the thumbscrew, the 
cat-o'nine-tails, the dungeon, and the blood-hound, were 
all in constant requisition to keep the slave in his con- 
dition as a slave in the slave states of America. (Shame !) 
The blood-hound was there regularly trained for hunting 
and running down slaves ; and advertisements were con- 
stantly to be found in the Southern papers from persons 
styling themselves u Blood-hound Trainers." Not long 
ago, he (the Chairman) had himself read one of those 



94 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

advertisements where a trainer was offering to " hunt 
down slaves at 15 dollars a-piece," and recommending his 
hounds as " the fleetest in the neighbourhood, never 
known to fail." From time to time in those papers adver- 
tisements might be seen, stating that slaves had escaped 
with iron collars about their necks, and some with bands 
of iron on their feet — others horribly marked with the 
lash, or branded with red-hot irons — the initials of their 
master's name having been burnt in the flesh, (great 
sensation) and as the masters themselves advertised these 
facts, the charge of cruelty to the slaves could not be 
contradicted or denied. (Hear, hear, and cheers). Was 
it a u libel," — a " trumped-up charge," — a " foul misre- 
presentation," — when the slave-holder himself said what 
a villainous scoundrel he was — when he told us in his 
own advertisements what a brutal monster he had been 
to his slaves — when he published his own infamous acts 
and rascally atrocities to the world ? ("Cheers) No— no 
— whatever other allowances or exceptions the audience 
might be disposed, in their charitableness and kindness 
of heart, to make in favour of these slave-dealers, 
they should remember that there was no charge more 
capable of clear demonstration than that of the most 
barbarous inhumanity on the part of the slaveholders 
towards their slaves. (Cheers.) He did not ask them 
to accept that statement on the faith of " Exeter Hall 
sentimentalism," but he pointed them to the proof ; and 
he declared without fear of contradiction, that the 
brutal men-stealers proved to the world that it was not 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 95 

regarded as discreditable or daring to set forth, by 
public advertisements, their soul-harrowing descriptions 
of brutality ! (Loud and long- continued applause.) He 
mentioned these things that it might be known that 
all the horrible atrocities and dreadful results of the 
slave trade — the deaths from crushed affections and 
despair, with the awful deeds of cruelty which were 
constantly occurring — were all sanctioned by law, and 
winked at in a land professing Christianity. And more 
than this, he said that the religion of the Southern 
States was, at this very time, the great supporter, the 
great sanctioner of these bloody doings. (Shame, 
shame.) And whilst America was printing tracts, dis- 
tributing Bibles, sending abroad her missionaries, and 
expending her money in various ways for the promotion 
of the gospel in foreign lands, the slave remained not 
only forgotten and uncared for, but was trampled under 
foot by the very churches of the land. (Applause.) 
For in America, the pulpit was the great defender of the 
accursed evil ; the ministers of religion came forward and 
tortured the hallowed pages of inspired wisdom to sanc- 
tion the bloody deed, and they stood forth as the fore- 
most, the strongest defenders of this " domestic institu- 
tion." Instead of preaching against all this tyranny 
and wrong, they had sought every means of throwing 
into the background whatever was contained in the 
Bible in opposition to slavery, and endeavoured to 
bring forward, prominently, that which could be tor- 
tured into the support of this slave-holding, woman- 



96 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

whipping, mind-darkening, soul-destroying, and atro- 
cious system. (Cries of " Shame," and loud cheers.) 
To-night they had met to denounce that system as a 
libel on the religion taught by the Saviour; that religion 
which was based upon the glorious and world-loving 
principle of love to God and love to man; that reli- 
gion, to the divine principles of which John Anderson 
owed his recent escape from the jaws of death — which 
makes its votaries free, and constrains them to " Do unto 
others as they would be done by." (Loud cheers.) 
And he (the Chairman) sincerely trusted the result of 
that meeting would be the enkindlement of a spirit of 
gratitude to God, that he had made them to differ, and 
a feeling of compassion and sympathy for those who 
were in bondage ; together with a determination to 
assist their brother Anderson by such contributions as 
would provide for his education, assist him in maintain- 
ing his livelihood, and secure the freedom of those 
who were nearest and dearest to him. The Chairman 
resumed his seat amidst enthusiastic applause. 

The Eev. Hugh Allen, D.D., on rising to move 
the first resolution, was received with loud cheering. 
He said he should have considered himself unworthy of 
the privileges of an Englishman, unworthy of the bless- 
ings of liberty, unworthy of the position of a British 
minister of the Gospel, and, indeed, unworthy of the 
privileges of being a man, if he had hot responded to 
the invitation given him to be there on that occasion. 
('Cheers.) On a Eoman stage, and in a Koman theatre, 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 97 

a heathen orator was represented to have uttered the 
following sentiment in reply to the question put to him, 
" Why he should interfere with the business of others ?" 
"I am a man — whatever is interesting to any of the 
human race, must be of high and deep interest to me." 
That sentiment had elicited thunders of applause in a 
Roman theatre, in heathen times, and he was quite sure 
he should be insulting them as well as himself by offer- 
ing any other apology for standing there that night. 
(Cheers.) They were assembled there on the grounds 
of honour, on the grounds of justice, on the grounds of 
humanity, and on the grounds of the religion of Jesus 
Christ. (Cheers.) They were assembled on the grounds 
of honour. Had we not liberated our own slaves in the 
West India Islands ? Had we not paid down twenty 
millions of money to the planters, which we had no right 
to do ? for, in the words of the immortal Lord Brougham 
(whom God spare long to us), "if the money ought to 
have been paid to anybody it was not to the planter, 
who had no right to receive a single shilling, but ought 
rather to have been made to give compensation, but to 
the men and women who endured from the hands of 
their masters, and by the sufferance of our country, such 
wrongs and such woes." (Cheers.) Well, then, if they 
paid twenty millions of money to the planters who had 
no right to it, in order that there might not be a single 
excuse for not liberating the slaves in our West India 
Islands, were they not bound in honour to welcome and 
sympathise with, and give the hand of fellowship to, 

H 



98 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

ever}' movement calculated to shiver to atoms the chains 
of slavery and set every man free, be he black or white? 
(Lond applause.) Honour compelled them to do that. 
Did vre not, as a nation, interfere with other countries 
as far as international laws permitted us ? Was it not 
the policy of Great Britain to interfere by every proper 
means to succour and help the oppressed in every part 
of the world? (Hear, hear.) Had it not been the 
policy — was it not the policy now? And, if either the 
Czar of Eussia, or the Emperor of Austria, were to ask 
what right we had to interfere with any people that 
were oppressed, we would tell them, that where oppres- 
sion exists, the hand of England is put forward, and the 
heart of England sympathises with them, so as to give 
them the help needful to effect their full and complete 
emancipation. (Cheers.) If, then, our sympathies were 
with the oppressed of every quarter of the globe — if we 
sympathised with the slaves in the West India Islands 
to the tune of twenty millions — and that was not a bad 
test — surely they ought to sympathise also with the man 
who has struggled with and escaped from the ignoble 
bonds of slavery, when the only thing that awaited him 
was a tyrant's death, if his tyrant masters were able 
again to grasp him in their hands. But they were there 
also on the grounds of justice. It might be pleaded 
that this was not the law of England. What was the 
law of England on this subject? Why, the law of 
England was well expressed by the immortal Curran, 
when he said, at a very important period and under 



ANDERSON IX ENGLAND. 99 

very important circumstances, for lie uttered it in a 
court of justice, and the judge did not interfere to con- 
tradict him — the immortal Curran said, when speaking 
of the English law on this subject, "no matter where a 
man was born, nor what was the colour of his skin ; no 
matter with what readiness his rights and liberties had 
been bartered away, no matter under what circum- 
stances, no matter how long ago, or in what way brought 
about, the moment his foot touches the soil of Britain 
the manacles fall at his feet. (Cheers.) The moment 
he stands beneath the flag of England, that moment he 
is free, regenerated, transformed, emancipated — set free 
by the justice of British law, and the spirit of British 
freedom." (Loud cheers.) Then, upon the ground of 
sheer justice, he would take his stand and say no man 
had a right to sell a man, be his colour what it might — 

O ' CD 

no man had a right to sell, and no man had a right to 
buy. (Cheers.) He denied the right of any man to 
plunder another. (Loud cheers.) He denied the right 
of the captain to convey him across the seas, the right 
of the auctioneer to sell him, and the right of the tyrant 
to buy him — he denied their right from first to last. 
(Loud cheers.) He declared, without fear of successful 
contradiction, no matter how the courts of America 
might talk upon the subject, that it was wholesale and 
abominable robbery, and that it behoved all with a 
spark of humanity to rise up to crush and put it down. 
(Cheers.) They were there that night on the ground 
of humanity. Were the slaves not men ? (A voice : 



100 LIFE OF JOHN ANDEESOK. 

"They say they are not.") Were they not men? ("Yes," 
and loud applause.) Yes, they were, and that itself was 
argument enough. (Cheers.) If that man (pointing to 
Anderson) was not so well educated as those he saw 
before him, who was to blame ? If he was not able to 
perform actions and earn his living as he ought, who 
was to blame ? Who was to blame for allowing that 
fine form to grow up uneducated? Look at him ! He 
is a man ! And who dared to assert on the groimd of 
humanity that he had a right to inflict any injury upon 
those two men (directing attention to Mr. Anderson 
and the Rev. Mr. Kinnaird), or any other man? 
(Cheers.) But there was another and far higher 
ground, and that was the ground of religion. He knew 
it was commonly asked, where was slavery put down in 
the Bible ? Where did they read it ? Give the text 
that puts down slavery. Ah ! he would give it them in 
a few moments. (Loud cheers.) The spirit of the 
entire Bible was a spirit of freedom. It taught that 
every man had a responsible soul. He asserted that 
the entire spirit of the Bible — and the Bible taught by 
principles as well as by positive statements — the great 
principle of the Bible — the New Testament and the Old 
too, were entirely at variance with the principles of 
slavery. (Cheers.) Look at this one text, " Honour all 
men." He would like to ask some of those ministers 
who preach in favour of slavery to discourse from that 
text for him. (Cheers.) " Honour all men." He should 
like to ask any man who talked about the authority 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 101 

of the Bible, to expound that passage for him. It did 
not say " some " men, but " all" men — not a man of one 
colour, but men of every colour — not men privileged in 
a high degree, but men privileged in a low degree. 
(Cheers.) "Honour all men" is the word of eternal 
truth, the principle of Holy Writ, the principle he him- 
self had always preached and would preach to the day 
of his death. (Cheers.) He would ask that man who 
said he had the authority of the New Testament for 
slavery, to show him that authority in the life of the 
Apostles — could he show it in the life of primitive 
Christians ? He had a deep feeling of horror for the 
judgment of the man who had the terrible and frightful 
audacity to stand up in a pulpit and preach in defence 
of slavery. (Cheers.) He was there that night on the 
principle of honour, on the principle of justice, on the 
principle of our common humanity, and, above all, on 
the principles of our holy religion — the religion of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. (Cheers.) He was there on those 
principles as enumerated in the passage, " Go ye into 
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." 
Not to preach a portion of the gospel as they did in 
some parts of America — not a few of the moral precepts 
only, but to preach the whole gospel to every creature. 
(Cheers.) Did they suppose that the moment the black 
man knew he had a responsible soul — when he knew 
that soul was immortal and responsible, as well as that 
of the white man — that he would be contented in slavery? 
Could they imagine that when the soul could escape 



102 LIFE OF JOHX AXDEESOX. 

from the prison that immured it, shake off the chains 

that bound it — when that soul could traverse the world 

and ascend to the very stars in its conceptions — such a 

man would sit down content in slavery ? (Cheers.) 

He could not. One thing he knew — they were bound 

to help him out of slavery, they were bound to give 

him the right hand of fellowship ; and, if one person 

more than another were called upon to do this, he, as a 

minister of religion, was so, and, therefore, he assured 

them he had very great pleasure in attending here and 

moving the first resolution : — 

" That this Meeting, recognizing the common brother- 
CD 7 o o 

hood of mankind, and asserting the inalienable right of 
every man to freedom, desires to express its earnest 
sympathy with John Anderson; and, rejoicing at his 
escape from the slave-hunters, hereby gives him a 
hearty welcome to England." 

The conclusion of Dr. Allen's remarks was received 
with loud and prolonged cheering. 

The Rev. Jabez Burns, D.D., of Paddington, se- 
conded the resoultion. He said that he was sure, after 
the very thorough exposition of the resolution itself 
which they had just heard, much more concerning it 
could not be said, inasmuch as his friend, Dr. Allen, 
had taken in the realms of justice, humanity, honour, 
and religion ; and, therefore, the whole ground, exten- 
sive as it was with respect to their views of the subject, 
had already been occupied. (Cheers.) He was anxious, 
however, to express the very great pleasure he felt at 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 103 

witnessing the crowded assemblage of that evening. 
He was sure the friends of John Anderson had done 
wisely in testing the public feeling in London on this 
question ; for the public of London, whenever properly 
tested on it, would always respond ; and he did not care 
whether the Times, or the Telegraph, or anybody else 
engaged in literature, or on the press, tried to prevent 
them, there were the sound heart and common sympathy 
that would always come to the surface. ('Loud cheers.) 
Then, he heartily rejoiced that his friend Mr. Twelve- 
trees was the Chairman of the evening. It happened 
that that gentleman was a master employing a great 
number of men, and if he had thought him (Mr. T.) 
capable of being a little despot in his own sphere, he 
would have had none of his attendance that nio-ht. 
(Laughter and cheers). Now, their Chairman not only 
sympathised with their black friends, with whom they 
all sympathised most heartily, but he sympathised with 
white people too. (Cheers.) He did not think white 
people ought to be oppressed any more than black, and 
if they had got some despot in the chair, who was in 
the habit of ruling with an iron hand over those he 
employed, at the same time that he expressed great 
sympathy for the blacks in America, he would not have 
acted with him. (Cheers.) He looked through the 
man. Principles did not attach themselves to colour or 
locality, or any period of the world's history. Principles 
were eternal and unchangeable, suited to every place 
and every body, and it was just because their Chairman 



104 LIFE OF JOHN ANDEKSON. 

was a liberal master, and one who sought the welfare 
and happiness of those he employed, that he was glad 
to be present and support him that night. (Cheers.) 
Then again, as they were well aware, some persons had 
been very much alarmed at this movement, lest it should 
interfere (he did not know how) with the settlement of 
the American crisis. (Hear, hear). All he could say 
was, that if the public enunciation and thorough-going 
exposition of the principles of Liberty would interfere, 
let them interfere (cheers), and let American principles 
and institutions settle themselves, as they would very 
shortly. They knew there was an old proverb, and 
never was proverb so applicable to the present times as 
that, "when rogues fall out, then honest men get their 
own." (Laughter and cheers.) He had great hope, 
being a thorough peace man, and hating all war, that 
God, in his good providence, would open a door of 
escape, and while the rogues were quarrelling, all he 
could say was, that the coloured people must be much 
more thick-headed than he had taken them to be, if 
they did not " cut and run." (Loud cheers and laughter.) 
They knew some people were very much afraid of cotton 
(a laugh), now, he would much rather that all the ladies 
of England should clothe themselves with the produc- 
tion of our own forests, than that slavery should be 
perpetuated. (Cheers). The other day he observed in 
the daily papers an advertisement to the effect that a 
certain reverend Doctor of Divinity from America 
would take the chair on the 4th of July, at a public 



ANDEESON IX ENGLAND. 105 

meeting in London, to commemorate the anniversary of 
American Independence, Now, he had taken tea with 
that same Doctor of Divinity in 1847, and on that occa- 
sion he was asked by the Doctor if he (the speaker), 
had altered his opinions on American slavery. He said 
to the Doctor at that time what he now said here, and 
what he was not afraid to say in the Slave States of 
America, that the foundation and base of American 
slavery was the professing Church of Christ. (Loud 
cheers.) And he then appealed to that reverend and 
estimable brother, and said, "Just look here ; supposing 
every Christian minister, in every Christian pulpit, on 
any one Lord's Day would do their duty justly before 
God on the subject of slavery, it would not exist for a 
single hour." (Loud applause.) And he would wish 
that meeting to remember that while the South was 
most deeply imbrued in the crimes of slavery, the 
States of the North had not clean hands in the matter 
(cheers) ; and it seemed to him that Providence was 
compelling the Northern States to take up their right 
position. And although there was a great deal of sen- 
timentality assumed for the slaves in the States of the 
North, which was frequently expressed in such forms 
as, " What are we to do with them?'' — "How are we to 
employ them?" (A voice : " Send them here") yet he 
ventured to say that anything else taken in the war, 
they would find no difficulty in disposing of, according 
to the acknowledged principles of war. He did not say 
whether these principles were right or wrong, but he 



106 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

did say these sympathisers might, on the principles of 
humanity, make suitable provision for. liberated slaves. 
(Hear, hear.) He thought that before the war had 
lasted long, they would recognise the voice of God, 
saying to them as was said to the despot of old, " Let 
the people go, and let them be free." (Cheers.) Now, 
a great many persons have sympathy for the American 
slave. There was their good southern brother Anderson, 
who owed his presence here to that sympathy. (Cheers.) 
There was their Christian brother on the right (pointing 
to the Rev. Mr. Kinnaird), who would make two Yankees 
any day (laughter) ; absolutely divided, their good 
brother would make two of them. Stand up ! (addressing 
Mr. Kinnaird, who immediately answered the call amidst 
a burst of applause from every part of the spacious 
building). They had now a great number of fugitive 
slaves coming to this country, and he fancied the church 
with which he was connected got a good many of them, 
for he observed two or three there every Sunday. It 
was not for the purpose of creating enthusiasm in the 
meeting that he said this, but there were peculiar cir- 
cumstances in the history of John Anderson which had 
called forth a deep and intense love of liberty, for which 
we as a nation were so happily distinguished. Their 
brother had effected his escape, and in doing so had 
been placed in a very unhappy position himself. He 
was a member of a Christian Church, and a believer in 
Jesus Christ, and anxious that his moral nature should 
be developed as well as his physical. But he was pur- 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 107 

sued, and whether he then acted rightly or wrongly, his 
own conscience would answer — he knew what the meet- 
ing thought on that point, and he himself thought that 
if anybody ought to die, it should not be the poor slave, 
but the slave-hunter. (Cheers.) He should have liked 
it much better, could his friend have resembled the 
illustrious Irishman who, when asked how he managed 
to bring three persons to the police-office, characteristi- 
cally replied, "1' faith, y're honour, I surrounded them." 
(Laughter and cheers.) He should have been glad if 
his friend could have captured the slave-hunter and 
brought him to England. But it was not so. The 
slave-hunter fell, and John Anderson escaped. He 
reached the British territory, and took it for granted, 
that being surrounded by thousands of fugitive slaves 
who had escaped, he was all right, and when the danger 
of his being again taken back into slavery was talked 
about, the growl of the British Lion went across the 
Atlantic, saying to the American Eagle that it would 
have no liberty to pounce upon its prey in Canada. 
(Loud cheers). But there were numbers of time-serving 
people there — persons capable of truckling to anything, 
and it became apparent that his friend John Anderson 
might yet go back to the place where he did not 
want to go. (Laughter and cheers.) Now, in his 
estimation, the most honourable thing ever done by 
England since it received the principles of the gospel 
was, when the question was raised before the highest 
judicial authority in England, she sent her mandate to 



108 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Canada, and said, " Let the fugitive slave be brought to 
England." (Loud cheers.) Oh, yes ! He loved his 
country, and he loved her the more that she had done 
that good thing. What ! talented lawyers and hoary- 
headed judges sit in convention about a poor fugitive — 
a man who w r ould have been sold for something like a 
thousand dollars in Missouri or any other slave-state — 
all this trouble — all this legislation — all this expense — 
about him ! Yes, to the honour of England, this was 
so : and he doubted whether in the whole civilized world 
another country would have been found to do this, or 
put itself to even half the trouble. (Cheers.) He was 
inclined to think John Anderson need not fear the 
miserable slave-hunter in London — that he might go 
to bed without trembling, and sleep without alarm. 
(Applause.) As his friend Dr. Allen had said in his 
speech, " Is he not a man!" Aye, and an intelligent 
man. (Cheers.) Look at his head ! As a believer in 
phrenology, he might say he had an excellent head — in 
fact, he was altogether a nice looking man. (Laughter.) 
In his physique there was everything to recommend him 
to the meeting, and as he had asked on a previous occa- 
sion, did he look like an assassin or a murderer? ("No, 
no," and cheers.) He would venture to say that most men 
would have followed the example of his friend had they 
been placed in that peculiar position, which involved 
the necessity of killing or being killed. (Cheers.) Now, 
the resolution said they must sympathise with him. 
They did sympathise with him already if they might 



ANDEKSON IN ENGLAND. 109 

judge from the noisy demonstrations of the meeting. 
(Cheers and laughter.) But that sympathy must assume 
a practical form. Their friend must be maintained — 
placed in a respectable position in life- — and his wife 
restored to him as soon as possible. (Cheers.) Now, he 
should deeply regret if this manifestation of sympathy 
should not thus result. In another fortnight, the news 
of their friend's reception would have sped across the 
Atlantic; and while his friends here rejoice, thousands 
in Canada will rejoice, and weep, and pray, and bless 
God together. (Loud cheers.) He would just say in 
conclusion, that he hoped the meeting would do the 
right thing. There appeared a disposition on the part 
of the Committee, their worthy Chairman, and all whom 
he had consulted, to do this ; and he hoped the echo 
from this meeting would meet with a response through- 
out the country, and that all would be prepared to do 
the right thing, and do it in a proper manner. (Cheers.) 
Here is a man who has been in bonds, and we rejoice 
that he is free — here is a man who has been in imminent 
peril; we rejoice that he is safe — and we give him, in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, a christian reception 
— a cordial and hearty christian reception. (Loud 
cheers.) And we hope the support of this meeting will 
be a rebuke to all slave-holders and slavery-patronizers, 
on the other side of the Atlantic, whether North or South : 
and they may depend that however much concerned we 
are for the settlement of their differences, we are far 



110 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

more concerned for the freedom of the human species. 
(Loud applause, which continued for some minute- 

The Rev. W. H. BoNNEB, of the London Emanci- 
pation Committee, in supporting the resolution, said 
that he was glad to see the meeting appreciated the 
importance of this question, in which he had taken 
considerable interest for a long period of time. He 
rejoiced to see his friend Mr. Twelvetrees occupying 
the chair, and hoped soon to see him occupy another 
seat, where he would be enabled to speak on a question 
which he knew and understood, and took so deep an 
interest in. (Cheers.) He felt great pleasure in being 
here because he considered it an event of the highest 
importance — of importance to their brother in the midst 
of them — of importance to the race to which he belongs 
— of importance to this country and to America, both 
as regards our political and religious constitution. 
(Cheers.) In expressing our sympathy with our brother 
Anderson, we could not separate the fugitive from the 
institution under which he has been held — could not 
leave the latter out of sight. They all understood their 
object was not to express any sympathy with the South, 
which had brought all the evils from which it was now 
suffering on itself ; nor were they there to plead for the 
North, for he believed the latter in its quarrel with the 
South was merely an illustration of the pot calling the 
kettle black. (Laughter and cheers.) They were met for 
the purpose of promoting Emancipation. He welcomed 
John Anderson most heartily, and thanked God he was 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. Ill 

in Exeter Hall that night — for he looked upon him in the 
light of a representative man. (Hear, hear.) They must 
regard him as the victim of a gigantic system of crime 
which tramples out manhood, and is an insult to God him- 
self. (Loud cheers.) The same Almighty Being who gave 
the sun the power to shine, who caused the rain to fall, 
and holds the winds in the hollow of his hand, gave 
that manhood, and he who would deprive him of it aims 
at the gift of God himself (cheers), and questions his 
right to make his creatures as he thinks fit. It was a 
wrong to man himself, for no man can create a right in 
another — if he usurps or steals it, he is a thief. (Loud 
cheers.) Not only w T as it an iniquity in itself, but it 
denied to man all domestic and social rights and privi- 
leges, for if not owner of himself, it was impossible for 
him to own wife or children — in fact, this was one of 
the principles of American law. And what was this but 
subverting society, undermining social order, and pro- 
ducing vice of every description ! (Cheers.) Therefore, 
every philanthropist, every friend of man, every child 
of God must, if he act up conscientiously to his duty, 
say, " Welcome to Anderson, and down with slavery." 
(Loud applause.) It was sometimes urged by Americans 
that, as England once countenanced Slavery, and was 
the original means of its introduction into America, she 
should not denounce it. Even admitting the fact, which 
was, however, open to dispute, he urged, that having 
been guilty of sin and crime, was no reason why we 
should not now denounce it. If it were true that we intro- 



112 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

duced slavery into America, thanks be to God we are 
now free from it, and can say, " Come, follow our 
example." We have felt the glory of our position, and 
as we never intended slavery to exist upon our soil, we 
are amply justified in saying, " Go thou, and do like- 
wise." (Cheers.) He was glad to see upon the platform 
that night his friend William Craft, who has succeeded, 
with his heroic wife, in effecting their escape over a 
thousand miles of country, in spite of the whole army 
and navy of the United States, proffered by Millard 
Fillmore to prevent his escape — thanks be to God, and 
to that eloquent orator and noble champion of the Anti- 
Slavery cause, George Thompson. (Great cheering.) 
Not only did the blame attach to the slave-trader and 
the slave-holder, but also to the pro-slavery voter, and 
behind all these, he was grieved to place the Northern 
pulpit. He firmly believed, that if the pulpit of the 
North had been true to the doctrines of Christ, slavery 
would have ceased to exist long ere this. (Loud cheers.) 
There were preachers of all denominations holding 
different shades of opinions on the question, but agree- 
ing in the main pro-slavery feeling, and he did not 
hesitate to declare that the popular ministers of America 
were the bulwarks of slavery. (" Shame" and applause.) 
It was necessary to put our hand upon the evil — to 
speak kindly, but firmly, and say, " Brethren, have no 
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but 
rather reprove them." (Loud and continued applause.) 
A gentleman of the name of Matthew Feilde here 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 113 

came forward, and endeavoured to obtain a hearing, for 
the purpose of proposing an amendment to the reso- 
lution. The Chairman in vain urged the audience to 
hear the speaker, as they were determined not to do so. 
the amendment met with no seconder, and the original 
resolution having been put, was carried by acclamation, 

The Chairman then rose, as well as John Anderson, 
and addressing the latter said, " JOHN ANDERSON, 
you have heard the rapturous voice of WELCOME 
from Englishmen, inducting you into the rights, privi- 
leges, and immunities of this our happy land. In the 
name of this vast assembly I present to you the right 
hand of fellowship, and congratulate you on the posses- 
sion of this goodly heritage, which you now enter upon 
FREE AS THE AIR YOU BREATHE, SO that you may 
really and truly say, U I thank my God that I am at last 
a man," and although still trembling and panting with 
your recent run for life, you may now strike your foot 
on English soil — consecrated to liberty, freedom, and 
religion — a portion of which, in this bottle, I now 
present to you, to carry in your bosom as a certificate 
which shall be honoured throughout the world, that 
you are FREE. ,, 

The Chairman then handed to Anderson a small 
bottle containing some of the free soil of England, on 
which was inscribed, " John Anderson's Certificate of 
Freedom, presented at Exeter Hall, London, July 2nd, 
1861," and then introduced him to the meeting, as 
" Citizen Anderson." At this point, the whole of the 

I 



114 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

vast assemblage rose, and with the utmost enthusiasm, 
gave forth loud and prolonged cheers, coupled with 
waving of hats and handkerchiefs. This highly impres- 
sive scene lasted for several minutes, and, after it had 
subsided, 

John Anderson, who met with an overwhelming 
reception, which appeared somewhat to bewilder him, 
said : All honour to England. All honour to Her 
Majesty the Queen, for my freedom. I feel very back- 
ward, the disturbance has quite upset me, and I do not 
know that I can make my speech out. (" Go on " — 
Cheers and laughter). My worthy friend has upset me 
so, that I don't know if I can get through. I feel very 
thankful for my escape, for I have been chased for a 
very long time, and have only got free about three 
weeks ago. I want to describe my narrow escape, but 
I don't know that I shall get through with it. I feel so 
disturbed by a great audience like this. I thank God I 
have at last broken the yoke. (Hear, hear. ) I thought 
I had seven years ago, but I never did till now, and 
now I have to thank God and Great Britain for it. So 
I give all credit to Great Britain, and if I get no further 
in my speech, you must not blame me, for it is very hard 
for me to get on at all, I can tell you. (Cheers and 
laughter.) I will describe my escape. I remember my 
master, a man named Burton, selling me to a man named 
McDonald, with whom I stayed about a month and a 
half, and then asked if I could go and see my family. 
He said " No." I left him then and went to the Mis- 



ANDERSON IX ENGLAND. 115 

souri River, but they would not let me cross unless I had 
a pass. I said my master had gone out, so I could not 
get one, but they would not let me cross. I went back 
and laid about till night, and then they chased me away, 
and I crossed the river, and got to the house of my 
father-in-law. I told him I was going to Canada. He 
said, " I have got a pistol — will you take it with you ?" 
I said, "No." Then I went on to my wife's house, but 
a slave-catcher named Brown chased me away from 
there. I then ran towards Canada, and on the third day 
came across a man named Diggs. He said, " Where are 

DO ' 

you going?" I said I was making my way to some 
farmer's house. He said, " I will go with you, you are 
a runaway." I tried to escape, and he chased me for 
half a day. I begged of him for four hours not to 
follow me, and told him that if he did I should be 
obliged to slay him — but nothing would do but he must 
take me dead or alive. He came to take me, and I 
struck him a blow. He came again, and I struck him 
again on the left side, and he came no more. I thank 
God that I have had the fear of God in my soul, other- 
wise I should never have made my escape. I was very 
sorry to slay the man — I did not believe he was dead till 
they came to swear against me, A thousand dollars 
were offered to any one who would take me across the 
lines, and there are plenty of people in Canada who 
would do a great deal for that money. I will now state 
what religion my owners were. Burton was a Methodist, 
and McDonald was a Baptist — a member of the same 



116 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

church as mvself. I know I tried to be a good man — 
but I doubt them very much indeed. (Hear, hear, and 
laughter.) Brothers and sisters, for I know I may call 
you so (loud cheers), I feel very much obliged to you 
for your attendance to-night, and for your kindness 
toward me, and I offer } r ou three cheers. (Laughter.) 
Three cheers, then, for Her Gracious Majesty the Queen. 
The speaker resumed his seat amid deafening applause. 

At this point of the meeting, a collection was made 
on behalf of the objects of the meeting as stated above. 

The Eev. T. M. KlNNAIKD, a coloured clergyman, 
then rose and said, there was some few facts which he 
was desirous of making publicly known. It had been 
generally assumed by the slave population of America, 
who had been tutored to that effect by their masters and 
others, that sooner or later Canada would be connected 
with the States, and that hence, all the slaves who had 
escaped would again be reduced to bondage. The lan- 
guage which had been used at this meeting — the know- 
ledge of which would, depend upon it, reach the fugitive 
slaves in Canada, ere long would totally destroy that 
impression. (Cheers.) Again, there had been some 
doubts as to whether the laws of Great Britain afforded 
absolute and undeniable protection to the slaves in 
Canada, and he was glad that the result in the case of 
John Anderson had most triumphantly and satisfactorily 
settled that question. (Cheers.) With regard to the 
conduct of John Anderson, he himself was no murderer 
—his heart was too big for that — but he should be 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAIST). 117 

forgetting his duty if he did not boldly and unhesitatingly 
state that he would, if similarly placed, have upheld his 
God-given right. (Cheers.) In Canada, th^re were 
numbers of persons with pro-slavery feelings, who would 
willingly have sold Anderson to his enemies, bu; the 
voice and the power of the great British nation went 
forth, the fiat of the Queen fell as a flash of lightning 
upon Toronto, and the fugitive was saved. (Cheers.) 
He appealed to them earnestly to help John Anderson. 
Had any of his brothers in the meeting a wife and little 
ones yet dwelling amongst the horrors, exposed to the 
cruelties and degrading influences of slavery, would 
they not desire with their whole heart to be enabled 
to release them from such a state, and be joined toge- 
ther in social riappiness and bliss? He urged them 
therefore strongly to assist brother Anderson in such a 
high and holy aim. (Cheers.) He then adverted to an 
article which had recently appeared in the columns of a 
morning journal which he described as having so strong 
a pro-slavery leaning, that he could not but believe at 
first that it formed a portion of the contents of a Southern 
newspaper, rather than of a leading English journal. 
The writer of that article had professed to be ignorant 
of the existence of such a place as Hamilton, Canada 
West, but if he would pay the speaker a short visit, his 
geographical knowledge of that quarter should be im- 
proved. (Cheers and laughter.) He was rejoiced that 
this great meeting had given his brother Anderson his 
Certificate of freedom, and hailed him as a man ; and 



118 LIFE OF JOHN ANDEPwSON. 

he trusted and believed that he would do honour to 
those who had thus honoured him. (Loud cheers.) 
He begged to move the following resolution : — 

" That this Meeting, deeply sympathising with those 
coloured persons who have in Canada sought the pro- 
tection of the British Grown, and who are amongst the 
most loyal subjects of Her Majesty, pledges itself to 
use every endeavour to maintain their rights and liber- 
ties inviolate." 

The Rev. J. G. Hewlett, D.D., in seconding the 
resolution, said that the occurrences of that evening 
brought vividly to his remembrance the days of his 
youth, when Emancipation was the great question of 
the day, and he rejoiced in the present occasion specially, 
because we were now recognising a great and glorious 
principle which we had previously announced. (Hear, 
hear.) He could not avoid referring for a moment to 
the plausible and fallacious argument sometimes used 
by the advocates of slavery, in which they adverted to 
the kind treatment and excellent education of the slaves, 
and he had been shocked to hear comparisons instituted 
between their condition and that of the working classes 
of this country, to the disadvantage of the latter. He 
thought the best refutation of such an argument was to 
be found in the condition of brother Anderson, and he 
would recommend all such as advanced that argument 
to take the place of the slave for awhile and test the 
accuracy of their statements and deductions. (Cheers 
and laughter.) He had been exceedingly pleased to 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 119 

find that none of the speakers had entered upon the 
question as a political one, and that the meeting had 
had the good sense to repudiate a proposed amendment, 
the terms of which would have implicated them in a 
hostile attitude to the Government of the United States. 
(Hear, hear.) He must say, that as he had seen John 
Anderson, and had been deeply interested, he should 
have liked to have seen also in England a veritable slave- 
catcher. (Cheers.) It might have been useful for the 
purpose of determining whether he more closely resem- 
bled man or the gorilla. (Laughter.) One other remark 
he desired to make, and that was how wonderfully Pro- 
vidence appeared to work with reference to their cause. 
Just as when the eloquent, silvery-voiced Wilberforce 
had brought before the House the evils of slavery in 
our West Indian possessions, in which he was ably 
followed by Sir T. F. Buxton; when their efforts appeared 
almost unavailing, the missionary Smith was imprisoned 
in Demerara for his denunciation of slavery, and a chapel 
in Barbadoes was burnt to the ground which drew the 
attention of the House to the subject, and led to discus- 
sions which resulted in abolition — while Smith in his 
prison cell was oppressed with gloomy thoughts, God was 
working out his will — so with John Anderson, in the 
time of his struggle — in the hour of battle — he knew 
not that God was making him the humble instrument 
of proclaiming the advent of freedom to the coloured 
population of America. (Loud cheers.) He did trust 
that a liberal sympathy would be exercised with regard to 



120 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Anderson which would bring about the restoration of 
his family, and that their prayers might also rise to 
Heaven that he might be preserved from all temptation, 
and become an honoured subject and citizen of Great 
Britain. The speaker concluded by seconding the 
resolution amidst loud cheers. 

Mr. William Craft, the author of the celebrated 
book, U A Run of a Thousand Miles for Freedom" in 
supporting the resolution, said that as one who had been 
a slave, and had had the good fortune to escape from that 
horrible condition, he most heartily sympathised with 
his brother Anderson. (Cheers.) He was absent in the 
North of Scotland on business when intelligence of the 
proposed meeting reached him, but he felt it his duty to 
give up every engagement in order to be present. They 
were often told by the advocates of slavery that slaves 
were well treated, and if freed, would not be able to take 
care of themselves. If they were all freed that very 
night, no doubt there would be many amongst them, 
who would be unable to provide for their subsistence, 
like many who were living in this enlightened city ; 
but he totally denied the general truth of the statement. 
(Hear, hear.) As to whether they desired freedom, he 
would appeal to 45,000 emancipated slaves in Canada, as 
well as to numerous coloured friends on that platform. 
These 45,000 men had, with only God's north star as a 
guide, baffled the bloodhounds of their pursuers, lay in 
pestilential swamps, and swani or floated over mighty 
rivers to reach the Canadian shore, and had earned and 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 121 

deserved their freedom ! (Cheers.) All honour to the 
Queen — honour to the British nation for their noble 
refusal to deliver up one of their number. (Loud cheers.) 
Though no blood-shedder, he firmly believed that every 
Englishman — every man — would have acted as Anderson 
had acted under the like circumstances. Referring 
to the religious education afforded to slaves in the 
Southern states, he gave a sketch of a sermon of one of 
the instructors most popular with the planters, and 
characterised it as blasphemy — blasphemy to attribute 
the sanction of the debasing institution to that great and 
beneficent Being who sent his plagues into Egypt in 
order to free the Israelites from their bondage, who, by 
the hand of his servant Moses, led them out, dividing 
the waters, and causing them to fall back and overwhelm 
the Egyptians in their pursuit — for. God and his attri- 
butes were immutable and eternal. (Loud cheers.) He 
thought great credit was due to the Committee for the 
organisation of this meeting, and he seconded the 
resolution with unfeigned pleasure. The resolution was 
then put and carried nem con. 

The Rev. Edward Mathews (introduced by the 
Chairman as the prototype of "Father Dickson" in 
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's tale of " Dred?) entered 
upon a recital of his personal experience in the Southern 
States, showing/ that in consequence of his abolitionist 
views, he was ten successive times thrown into a pond of 
water in the depth of winter, and that it was a matter of 
consideration at one time whether he should be hanged 



122 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

on a neighbouring tree or not. He felt some little doubt 
as to whether the safety of the fugitive slaves in Canada 
was yet properly guaranteed. In moving a resolution 
for the appointment of a Committee, he remarked on the 
good effects such a step was likely to produce. He 
believed it would give fresh vitality to the Anti-Slavery 
cause (hear, hear,) and, while rejoicing that their worthy 
Chairman had taken the responsibility of presiding, 
expressed a hope that the time was not far distant when 
he would be enabled to exercise a vote and influence on 
the question in the House of Commons. (Loud cheers.) 
The Rev. T. J. Messer, in seconding the resolution, 
remarked that perhaps he was one of the oldest advocates 
of the abolition of slavery in all its withering and Protean 
forms on that platform. For more than forty years had 
he laboured in the cause. It was his belief that slavery 
in all its debasing forms, with all its sin and crime must 
soon pass away. The grass might grow upon his grave 
ere the dawn of that day, but he had a firm conviction 
that all forms, all pressures past of slavery, were doomed 
to a speedy extinction. (Cheers.) From some height 
in the city of sunlight and of song, he should behold the 
the last fetter struck from the last slave ! Having toiled 
to bring about the utter extinction of Colonial bondage 
and having lived to see the glorious day when all the 
slaves of the ebon islands of the West sang " Hosannah" 
because they were free, he believed that he yet should 
live to see — should he say it — Transatlantic bondage 
crushed out for ever and ever, and then, from an emanci- 



ANDERSON IN ENGLAND. 123 

pated people, as though touched by Ithuriel's spear, 
a jubilant song should rise right up from earth to the 
throne of the Most High in Heaven. (Loud and long- 
continued cheering.) 

The Rev. P. Pocock, B.A., felt assured that at that 
late hour he should but study the desires of those present 
bv beino- exceedingly brief. One thing struck him as 
rather peculiar, and that was the absence of any positive 
evidence of the death of John Anderson's opponent. 
There was only, it appeared, one individual who gave 
evidence on the point, and he was distant some three 
miles from the spot where the meeting took place. 
(Cheers and laughter.) Aware, as they were, of the 
devices and schemes to which the slave-holders had 
resorted, it just occurred to him that this point was 
deserving of attention. After quoting several passages 
of Scripture, and showing that these were diametrically 
opposed to the principles and practices of slavery, 
Mr. Pocock concluded by supporting the resolution. 

The resolution, which was as follows, was then put 
from the chair, and carried unanimously — ■ 

" That the following gentlemen constitute a Committee 
to raise a fund on behalf of John Anderson — 

Harper Twelvetrees, Chairman ; The Honourable 
Arthur Kinnaird, MP., Treasurer; the Rev. Hugh 
Allen, D.D. ; the Rev. Jabez Burns, D.D. ; the Rev, 
J. G. Hewlett, D.D. ; the Rev. W. H. Bonner; the 
Rev. Thomas Jones ; the Rev. Edward Mathews ; 
Ebenezer Burr, Esq. ; F. W. Chesson, Esq. ; 



124 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Mr. William Craft; Denis McDonnell, Esq.; William 
Farmer, Esq. ; Alfred Gliddon, Esq. ; Mr. G. T. Horn ; 
John Noble, Esq. ; Alfred W. Sanderson, Esq. ; H. B. 
Sheridan, Esq., M.P. ; George Thompson, Esq. Cooke 
Baines, Esq., Joseph A. Horner, Esq., Hon. Secretaries. 
With power to add to their number." 

A vote of thanks to the Chairman for his kindness in 
presiding, and his efficient discharge of the duties, having 
been proposed by Mr. Benjamin Jackson (a coloured 
gentleman), and seconded by Thomas Hattersley, Esq., 
and Mr. Twelvetrees having suitably responded in a 
few expressive sentences, the immense audience, con- 
stituting the most influential and enthusiastic Anti- 
Slavery meeting ever held in Exeter Hall, dispensed. 



ANDEKSON ON THE PLATFORM. 125 



CHAPTER XII 

ANDEESOH ON THE PLATFORM, 

Attends various Meetings in London and its Neighbourhood,— Tour 
on the Sea Coast. — Sketches of Speeches. 

In the interval between the great meeting in Exeter 
Hall and the close of the month of September, Anderson 
attended a large number of meetings, besides frequently- 
addressing the teachers and scholars of Sunday schools 
in the metropolis and its vicinity. We have not before 
us a complete list of these engagements, but we know 
that amongst the number were meetings at the Maryle- 
bone Institute ; Deverell Street, Southwark ; Camden 
Eoad Chapel; Rev. Mr. Spong's Chapel, De Beauvoir 
Town, Kingsland; Markham Square, Chelsea; Devons 
Road Chapel, Bromley -by-Bow; Temperance Hall, Strat- 
ford, Essex ; the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Poplar ; 
the Town Hall, Brentford ; Colnbrook ; the Town Hall, 
Brighton ; the Town Hall, Worthing ; Hastings ; the 
Assembly Rooms, St. Leonards ; Folkestone ; Deal ; 
Dover ; Margate ; Ramsgate ; St. Alban's ; Luton ; 
Hemel Hempstead; &c, &c. At many of these 



126 LIFE OF JOHN AXDERSON. 

meetings addresses were also delivered by trie Rev. J. G. 
Hewlett, D.D., George Thompson, Esq., (late M.P. 
for the Tower Hamlets), and John Noble, Esq., of the 
Middle Temple, as deputations from the John Anderson 
Committee. John Anderson was also present and spoke 
at the meeting commemorative of West Indian Emanci- 
pation, held under the auspices of the London Emanci- 
pation Committee in Spafields Chapel, on the 1st of 
August, 1861. 

At all these meetings the appearance of Anderson ex- 
cited deep interest, and the statements made by him 
were listened to with the deepest attention. A gentle- 
man who was present at the meetings addressed by 
Anderson at Hastings and St. Leonard's, has furnished 
us with notes made on those occasions. As specimens 
of the way in which Anderson was at that time accus- 
tomed to tell his own story, we insert them with 
pleasure and gratitude, assured that our readers will 
excuse the repetition of certain facts, and be glad to 
possess examples of the early public utterances of a 
fugitive slave. 

At Hastings, Anderson said, — " My mother was a 
woman of high spirit, and would not submit to harsh 
treatment — to abuse and blows — so she was sold to a 
negro trader, to be sent to the plantations of Louisiana 
and Texas." He (Anderson) was employed on Burton's 
farm in the cultivation of wheat, Indian corn, oats, rye, 
and tobacco. During the latter period of his service, 
the chief management of the farm was committed to him. 



ANDERSON ON THE PLATFORM. 127 

The immediate cause of his sale to McDonald was the 
following: — " Having offended his master, he was ordered 
to strip, to cross his hands, and have his wrists tied with 
a cord, and be flogged. He removed his jacket, but re- 
fused to be bound, or to stand stiil while the whipping 
was given. His master, in a rage went into the house 
and came back with a gun, and was preparing to shoot 
him when he was prevented by the interposition of his 
two daughters. He allowed Anderson, for the time, to 
escape punishment, but declared his determination to 
sell him. Anderson observed that he preferred to be 
sold to being flogged. The storm blew over, and matters 
for a short time went on as usual. At length when he 
had finished a day's work, he went to Burton and enquired 
if there was anything more for him to do that day. His 
master said, ' Xo, 5 and added, ' you will do no more work 
for me, for I have sold you.' The following day he was 
taken across the river to a place called Glasgow, where 
he saw a thousand dollars paid by McDonald to Burton, 
received the money and transferred Anderson to his 
new master, who soon after started for his farm, taking 
Anderson with him. The master drove himself in a gig, 
while Anderson followed on horse-back. The road lay 
through a prairie country, and Anderson was careful to 
observe the course taken, that he might, when he desired 
to do so, find his way back to the river. 

" Before McDonald took him away, he had asked him 
if he was willing to go ; he had replied that he was, but 
he had not promised to stay, and did not mean to do so. 



128 LIFE OF JOHN AXDERSOK. 

After McDonald got home he offered to make Anderson 
his coachman, but this office he declined, as its duties 
would have deprived him of his rest on Sunday. He was 
therefore sent into the field. After awhile he requested 
permission to return to Brown's to see his wife, and that 
he might obtain permission, said that she had some 
clothes, which he wished to bring to the plantation. 
His master told, him he would not be allowed to visit his 
wife, and as for the clothes, they should be sent for. His 
master tried to terrify him by saying that he would cut him 
in pieces if he attempted to run avray. As for a wife, if 
he wanted one, he would find him one upon the planta- 
tion. He said nothing, but waited until his master had 
to be absent one Sunday, in attendance some miles off, 
at a church meeting, for inquiring into the death of a 
slave, who it was alleged had been killed by one of the 
church members. His master started for the place of 
meeting on the Saturday night, and very early on the 
Sunday morning — a good while before daylight — he 
started for the river." 

At St. Leonard's, Anderson said, — " My mother was 
sold away down to Xew Orleans when I was about seven 
years old. She had a great big spirit, something like 
me, and would 'nt stand being beat about and knocked 
around. One day her mistress and she had a fight, and 
my mother pulled a handful of hair out of my mistress's 
head. For this she was sold, and went down South, 
and I have never seen her since. Slave women have no 
rights, no matter what their colour may be. Some of 



ANDERSON ON THE PLATFORM. 129 

them are as white as English women are, but because 
their mothers have been women with some negro blood 
in them, they are slaves, and are treated as slaves. 
They are without protection, and white men may do 
what they please with them, for there is no law for a poor 
slave woman. Some folks say slaveholders may be good 
Christians, but I can't and wont believe it, nor do I 
think that a slaveholder can get to heaven. He may 
possibly get there, I don't know ; but though I wish to 
get there myself, I don't want to have anything more to 
do with slaveholders either here or in heaven. When 
my mother was sent away, I was brought up by my 
mistress, and used to call her mother ; I didn't call her 
mistress, for I couldn't get the word into my mouth. I 
was raised in the house, and was a kind of nurse to the 
daughters of my owner. When I was fourteen or 
fifteen years old, I was sent into the field, and when I 
had learnt my work there, I was put over the other 
slaves and left to look after them when my master was 
away. I had to see the work done, and had to knock 
the other slaves about to make them do it. When I 
was about nineteen or twenty years old, I did what I 
suppose young men in this country do. I took the 
notion that I would go a courting. I did not want to 
marry a girl belonging to my own place, because I 
knew I could not bear to see her ill-treated. I had 
often thought of being free. An old man, who was 
called Jacob, had many times talked with me about 
Canada, and I had talked with other slaves about start- 
is 



/ 



130 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

ing off for that place, and we had often formed plans 
for the purpose, but they were always disappointed. 
Well, about my marriage : there was a slave girl called 
Maria, she belonged to a man named Brown, and had 
been married when she was very young, and had two 
children, and her husband died, and I went to his 
funeral ; I was then about twenty. You'll think it 
strange that I should be thinking of courtship and mar- 
riage at a funeral, but I couldn't help it, for I felt that I 
should very much like to have Maria for my wife ; so six 
months after the funeral, I went with Maria to a camp 
meeting. Many slaves, who have no religion, go to 
camp meetings that they may be merry, for there is 
much whisky sold at these gatherings, and the people 
drink and play at cards, while others attend to religion. 
Maria was spoken to by her friends about going with 
me so soon after her husband's death. After that, I 
kept going to see her, and at last asked her if she would 
marry me. She said, ' You must speak to my father, 
and I did speak to him ; and he said, t You had better 
wait awhile, and I'll see about it.' I saw him again, 
and he still said, ' wait awhile.' When I told Maria, 
she said, ' never mind, if he doesn't consent soon, we'll 
be married all the same.' Lewis Tomlin (Maria's father) 
was a free man, who had purchased himself for eight 
hundred dollars, and had given six or seven hundred 
more for his wife. He had a little property, and was 
well to do as a barber, in the town of Fayette. So we 
got married, and Maria had a child seven or eight 



ANDERSON ON THE PLATFORM. 131 

months old when I ran away. Maria's first husband had 
been dead about a year when we were married. It 
was during the Christmas holidays. My master allowed 
me to go and see my wife once a week — that is, on 
Saturday night, and I was ordered to be back again 
on Monday morning. I did not, however, care much 
for his orders, and I used to go almost every 
night. When we. had been married about a year 
and a half, Maria fell sick, and I wanted to £;o more 
frequently to see her. My master would not permit 
me, but I disobeyed him, and went. On one occasion 
when I had been to see her, and had remained all night, 
my master was on the look-out for me when I returned 
in the morning. When he saw me, he said, ' Jackey, 
where have you been ?' I replied, c Oh, Iv'e been walk- 
ing about.' ' I'll walk you about,' he said, and came up 
to me to give me a licking with a raw hide which he 
had in his hand. I warded off his blows with my arm. 
He then went and got a rope, and threw it over the 
branch of an old walnut tree. I knew very well that 
he wanted to tie me up and whip me, and I determined 
that I would not be whipped. He ordered me to strip 
and cross my hands, that I might be bound and drawn 
up, but I refused. He cursed and swore, and threatened, 
but I still refused. He then fetched his gun, and said 
he would shoot me, but the daughter I had nursed when 
in the house interposed, and got the gun away from him. 
He then said he only wanted to frighten me, but that 
he would sell me to some one who would break my 



132 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

spirit. My mistress, who used to protect me, had been 
dead for some time, and I had now no one to save me 
from ill treatment. When she died, Burton made up his 
mind to conquer me. One day after this he came home, 
and not being pleased with me, ordered me to go into a 
barn and receive punishment, but I refused. On this 
occasion the daughters took part with their father, and 
assisted him ; but I got away, and escaped the punish- 
ment intended for me. Burton, not being able to subdue 
me, hired me to a man of the name of Paterson. It was 
while I was working for this man that my owner met 
with McDonald, who lived thirty miles away, in Salem 
county, on the other side of the Missouri river. This 
man offered to buy me. He was already the owner of 
about thirty slaves. When I came back to Burton's, 
he came upon the farm to look at me, and to see what 
sort of a hand I was, and how I went about my work. 
He went away, and I remained with Burton about three 
Tnonths longer, and, during that time, my master was 
gradually appointing others to do the work 1 had been 
/ accustomed to do. He did not, however, want me to 

know that he had made a bargain with McDonald. It 
was the season for cutting tobacco. I had raised about 
twenty acres for Burton, and had about an acre and a 
half of my own, which I had planted in the neighbour- 
hood of my wife's residence. It was on a Saturday that 
he told me I should do no more work for him, and that 
he would hand me over to McDonald on the Monday 
morning : so I resolved to make things square, and ac- 



ANDERSON ON THE PLATFORM. 133 

cordingly went to Fayette and settled some accounts I 
had there, that I might be ready to start for my new 
home. On the Monday morning, when I saw the money 
paid for me, I said to Burton, ' That's a great deal of 
money, and I think you ought to give me some of it ;' 
but he made no reply. When my new master was 
taking me across the river, he told the ferryman to take 
care that he never allowed me to recross it. About half 
way to his plantation McDonald stopped to take up his 
wife, who was waiting for him. He showed me to her 
as the fine new slave he had just purchased. On the 
way he had a good deal to say to me about how he 
would serve me if I attempted to escape from him, and 
said, if I did, he would tie me up and cut me to pieces, 
and then send me to New Orleans. At the place where 
we took up McDonald's wife, I saw some slaves who 
appeared as if they were nearly starved, and when my 
dinner was sent out to me I gave it to them, in conse- 
quence of their hungry looks. Indeed, they seemed to 
have no strength for the work they had to do. I had 
never seen slaves in a worse condition. When we 
arrived at the plantation, McDonald told his slave-driver 
to let me off easy at the beginning, to coax me, and get 
me into the traces by degrees. I felt the separation 
from my wife very much, and made up my mind that, if 
I might not go and see her, I would run away for good ; 
that I would get away some Sunday, and after bidding 
her good-bye, would start for Canada. That my master 
might be accustomed to miss me on a Sunday morning 



134 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

without suspecting that I had left him, I used to 
disappear on that day, but to show myself on Monday 
morning ; so that he came at last to think that I did not 
go far away. When I had been with him about six 
months I asked to be allowed to go and see my wife, and 
bring back some clothes with me. He told me I should 
never see my wife again ; that he would not let me 
cross the Missouri river any more, and that I must take 
one of his slave girls for my wife, for that his plantation 
would be my future home. Here, again, you see what 
kind of religion it is that the slaveholders possess : he 
wanted me to desert my wife and child, and become the 
father of children who should be his property. I knew 
he would refuse my request to go and see my wife, but 
I determined to ask him, that I might have a fair excuse 
for leaving him. When he answered as he did, I said 
nothing, but resolved that the approaching Sunday 
should be my last in his service." Anderson then 
repeated, in his usual way, the account of his escape. 



ANDERSON AT CORBY. 135 



CHAPTER XIII. 

JOHN ANDERSON AT CORBY. 

After John Anderson had attended the various public 
meetings referred to in the last chapter, the committee 
felt it important that he should for a time devote him- 
self exclusively to the acquisition of learning, in order 
to enable him to transact the ordinary business of life 
creditably ; and, with this view, he was placed under the 
care of the Rev. J. G, Hewlett, D.D., in October, 1861. 
It was evident, however, notwithstanding the Rev. 
Doctor's care and vigilance, that Anderson's continuance 
in London was unfavourable to that close attention to 
his studies which was required in order to ensure 
success ; and when the excitement and attractiveness of 
the sights and sounds of London to an untutored mind 
are considered, it will readily be believed that Anderson 
found it difficult to resist the various influences which, 
in the Metropolis, combined to distract his thoughts and 
attention. Under these circumstances, the committee 
decided, in the month of December following, upon 
placing Anderson with Mr. John Pool, of the British 



136 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Training Institution, Corby, near Thrapston, North- 
amptonshire, and, on the eighth of that month, Anderson 
was received into the household of Mr. Pool. The quiet 
and secluded character of this locality exerted a beneficial 
influence on Anderson, and it was speedily manifest 
that his withdrawal from the Metropolis was a desirable 
step, and that his progress would be as satisfactory as 
could be expected. The committee were favoured with 
periodical reports from Mr. Pool, conveying information 
of Anderson's studies ; and in the month of July, 1862, 
that gentleman wrote as follows: — 

" In forming an estimate of the conduct and progress 
of Anderson since he has been with me, it is necessary 
to take into consideration his former mode of life, which 
was spent in severe labour, occasionally relieved by out- 
door sports ; the trying circumstances in which he was 
placed in Canada, and the season of excitement through 
which he passed on his arrival in England, as the natural 
consequences of which, he manifested on his first coming 
here considerable restlessness, which unfitted him for 
close application to his studies. This difficulty is, 
however, now in a great measure overcome ; and I may 
say that it has been the greatest which I have had to 
encounter in superintending his education. On the 
whole, I think he has progressed as well *as could be 
reasonably expected. He can now write very creditably, 
can read with little assistance a chapter in the New 
Testament, and can work the first four rules of arith- 
metic, both simple and compound." 



ANDERSON AT CORBY. 137 

As a curious custom which prevails at Corby was 
observed during Anderson's residence in the village, it 
may be not uninteresting to give some particulars 
concerning it. It appears that Queen Elizabeth granted 
to the inhabitants of Corby a charter, to free them from 
town toll throughout England, Wales, and Scotland ; 
also to exempt them from serving on juries at North- 
ampton, and to free the knights of the shire from the 
militia law. In commemoration of the granting of the 
charter, a festival, called the " Pole Fair," is held on 
Whit-Monday once in every twenty years, when the in- 
habitants assemble at an early hour and stop up all roads 
and bye ways in the parish, and demand a certain toll of 
every person, gentle and simple, who may have occasion 
to pass through the village on that day. In case of non- 
compliance, a stout pole is produced, and the obstinate 
person is placed thereon in a riding attitude, and carried 
round the village, followed by the jeers and laughter of 
the assembled crowds ; and after that, he is taken to the 
parish stocks and imprisoned, until the authorities choose 
to grant a dismissal. The following is a copy of the 
ancient charter referred to, which is in the possession of 
the Eector of the parish : — 

u Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, of 
England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender 
of the Faith, &c, to all to whom these present letters 
shall come greeting, we have inspected the enrolment 
of certain letters patent of confirmation of our prede- 



138 LIFE OP JOHN ANDERSON. 

cessor Elizabeth, late Queen of England, bearing date 
at Westminster the 2nd day of December, in the 27th 
year of her reign, made and granted to the men and 
tenants of the manor of Corbei, and remaining of record 
in our Court of Chancery in these words : — The Queen, 
&c, to all and singular sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, 
constables, ministers, and all other her faithful subjects 
as well within liberties as without, to whom these 
present letters shall come greeting. Whereas, according 
to the custom hitherto obtained and used in our kingdom 
of England, the men and tenants of antient demesne of 
the Crown of England are and ought to be quit of toll, 
pannage, monage, and passage throughout our whole 
kingdom of England, and according to the aforesaid 
custom the men and tenants of antient demesne of the 
crown aforesaid have always hitherto from the time 
whereof memory runneth not to the contrary been 
accustomed to be quit from contribution to the expenses 
of knights coming to our Parliament, or that of our 
progenitors, formerly Kings of England for the com- 
munity of the commonalty of the same kingdom. Also 
according to the same custom the men and tenants of 
the manors which are of antient demesne of the crown 
aforesaid ought not to be placed in any assizes, juries, 
or recognizances for their lands and tenements which 
they hold of the same demesne, unless only in those 
which ought to be had in the courts of the same manors, 
and for that whereas the manor of Corbei, in the county 



ANDERSON AT CORBY. 139 

of Northampton, is of antient demesne of our Crown of 
England, as is found by a certain certificate returned 
into our Chancery by the treasurer and chamberlain of 
our exchequer by our command thereupon. We enjoin 
and command you and every of you that you permit all 
and singular the men and tenants of the manor of Corbei 
aforesaid to be quit from such toll, pannage, monage, 
passage, to be paid on account of their goods or things 
throughout our whole kingdom aforesaid, & on account 
of the expenses of the knights aforesaid ; also that you 
do not place the same men and tenants of the same 
manor in any assizes, juries, or recognizances, to be held 
out of the court of the manor aforesaid, but only in 
those which ought to be held in the court of such manor 
against the aforesaid custom, unless the lands and 
tenements be held of other tenure for which they ought 
to be placed in assizes, juries, or recognizances, 
according to the form of the statute of the Common 
Council of our kingdom of England therefore provided. 
And if on these occasions, or any of them, you should 
make any distress on the aforesaid men and tenants of 
the manor of Corbei aforesaid, you shall without delay 
release the same to them. In witness whereof, &c, 
witness the Queen at Westminster, the second day of 
December, in the 27th year of her reign. We moreover 
have by these presents caused the tenor of the enrolment 
aforesaid to be exemplified at the request of Eobert 
Davis, a gentleman, and John Lee, and others, men and 
tenants of the aforesaid manner of Corbei. In witness 



140 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

whereof we have caused these our letters to be made 
patent. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 6th day of 
July, in the 22nd year of our reign. 

"Grimston: Harafer. 

u .* -ii ( Thos. Estcourt, ) Two Masters 

M hxammed b}' us, < > 

t "William Child, ) in Chance?y. 

u Indorsed ■ An Exemplification, at the request of 
Robert Davis and others.' "Halsted." 

The " Pole Fair" was held on Whit-Monday, June 

9th. 1862, and the following description of the ceremony, 
as then observed, was furnished to the Stamford Mercury 
by Mr. Amos Bell, of Great Easton, who was through- 
out the day an eye-witness of what transpired : — 

14 According to custom the inhabitants rose at an early 
hour, played and sang the National Anthem and Rule 
Britannia in the streets, and proclaimed the fair. They 
then began to carry on poles and chairs all the people 
in the village, put them in the stocks, and gave them 
some ale before liberating them from durance vile. 
Whole families were fetched out of their houses, and 
escorted to the stocks with flags flying, the band playing 
lively airs. After all the inhabitants had gone through 
the ceremony, strangers began to arrive in gigs, carts, 
vans, and other vehicles, to witness this singular custom. 
They cheerfully paid the toll which was demanded of 
them on entering the village. Many hundred people 
were present, and a great many went through the cere- 



ANDERSON AT CORBY. 141 

mony. Stalls, shooting-galleries, shows, and a large 
portable theatre rose up as if by magic, flags and 
banners floated in the air, and the greatest hilarity 
prevailed. Parish officers, constables, and policemen 
went through the ceremony, no person being excused. 
Two good bands of music paraded the streets during the 
day. All the villagers tried to vie with each other in 
decorating their houses with devices, &c. There was a 
pretty triumphal arch against the Exeter Arms inn : it 
exhibited the words ' God save the Queen,' and from 
which were suspended numerous flags, one containing 
the Corby cross. Altogether the decorations had an 
attractive appearance. Near the Cardigan Arms inn, 
opposite the stocks, was another large red, white, and 
blue flag, bearing the Corby cross. And above the 
stocks, on the wall, were the words i God save the 
Queen' and ' Our Charter' in large characters. From 
the sign -post of the Cardigan Arms floated another large 
red, white, and blue flag, bearing the Corby cross ; and 
from the sign to the house hung a handsome banner 
with a festooned wreath, bearing the motto ' Long life 
to Cardigan, ' and on the other side ' Honour to the 
brave.' Against the White Horse inn was another 
triumphal arch, exhibiting the words ' God save the 
Queen ' and i Our Charter,' and several flags. Against 
the Black Horse inn was a pretty wreath extending 
across the street, with a flag, and the words * God save 
the Queen ' and ' Our Charter.' Against the Queen's 
Head inn were two beautiful scarlet flags, and these, 



142 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

with other decorations, had a pleasing effect. There 
were several handsome flags floating from private 
houses, particularly one from Mr. Chapman's, and 
another from Mr. Saddington's. On the Kettering-road 
was another triumphal arch, exhibiting the words ' Our 
Charter* and * God save the Queen,' surmounted with 
three union jacks. On the Eockingham-road was 
another triumphal arch, with the words ' Our Charter ' 
and ' God save the Queen.' On this arch were the flags 
of England, France, Sardinia, and Turkey. The 
business of the day was carried out with the best of 
good feelings, and the greatest hilarity prevailed till 
night threw her sable mantle over the proceedings." 

John Anderson, who was a spectator, and was greatly 
interested in the proceedings of the day, was treated 
with the greatest kindness ; and, as a mark of re- 
spect, he was graciously exempted from the payment 
of toll. 

During the remainder of the time that Anderson 
resided at Corby his progress in his studies was satis- 
factory to the Committee, and it is pleasing to remark 
that his conduct and deportment secured him the respect 
and esteem of those with whom he was brought into 
contact. It was intended that Anderson should reside 
with Mr. Pool for a period of twelve months; and as the 
period drew near for his removal from Corby, the 
Committee had many anxious consultations as to the 
course which his future life should take. In this 
emergency the Committee were indebted to F. W. 



ANDERSON AT CORBY. 143 

Chesson, Esq., the esteemed honorary secretary of the 
London Emancipation Society, for suggesting that the 
Negro Republic of Liberia would furnish unequalled 
opportunities for Andersons prosperity and social ad- 
vancement, and for kindly securing the co-operation of 
Gerald Ealston, Esq., the Consul-General of the 
Republic in England. After full consideration of the 
matter, it was ultimately resolved to recommend John 
Anderson to go out to Liberia ; and Mr. Ralston having 
kindly made known the facts of the case to the Directors 
of the African Royal Mail Steam Ship Company, of 
79, Great Tower-street, the Board, in the most handsome 
manner, announced, through their secretary, Duncan 
Campbell, Esq., their willingness to grant Anderson a 
free passage to Liberia. The recommendation of the 
Committee having been conveyed to Anderson, with 
information as to the peculiar advantages which he would 
possess in the Republic, he decided to act upon it, and 
it was arranged that he should sail in the " Armenia," on 
the 24th of December. It was also notified by Mr. 
Ralstan that the Liberian Government would make 
Anderson a special grant of land on his arrival in the 
Republic,, so that he would at once become a landed 
proprietor and have a stake in the welfare of his 
adopted country — a generous concession which was 
highly valued. 

It will be seen by the following written testimonials, 
which were presented to Anderson previous to his 
departure from Corby, that he was generally esteemed 



144 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

by the inhabitants of the village, during his residence 
there : — 

" Corby Rectory, Northamptonshire, 
"December Uth, 1862. 

" Mr. John Anderson, the fugitive slave, has resided 
in my parish during the last twelve months, and during 
the whole of that period he has conducted himself in a 
highly exemplary and respectful manner. I believe 
him to be a sincere Christian, and his walk and conver- 
sation are in every way in agreement with his 
professions. I feel persuaded that he is a person who 
may be safely employed in any situation of trust and 
responsibility. On leaving my parish he carries my 
sincere wishes, that success and happiness may attend 
him in any situation that the providence of God may 
open the way for him to occupy. 

"Thomas Bull, M.A." 



" Corby, Northamptonshire, 

"December 17th, 1862. 

" I have now for several months had an opportunity 
afforded me by periodical visits to Corby of occasional 
conversation with Mr. John Anderson, the fugitive 
slave. The interest which I felt in meeting him at first 
has been increased by the frequent intercourse we have 
had, and I am glad to find that at present, when he is 



ANDERSON AT CORBY. 145 

about to leave the neighbourhood, he is so much esteemed 
by the public at large. If for him I desiderate one thing 
more than another it is, that his dear wife and child may 
be restored at once to his side, and I earnestly pray that 
this happiness may speedily be given to him. I sincerely 
hope that the providence of God may be his inheritance, 
and that we may meet again in the endless rest above. 

"W. Exton, 

" Wesleyan Minister. 



<c Weldon, Northamptonshire, 

6< December 8th, 1862. 

" John Anderson has resided for twelve months in this 
locality, during which time he has regularly attended 
upon my ministry, and communed with us at the Lord's 
table. " George Bullock, 

"Independent Minister" 



€i Brigstoch, Northamptonshire, 

"December 19th, 1862. 

" My esteemed coloured friend, Mr. John Anderson, 
has been residing in my neighbourhood, and with one 
of my most valued Christian friends, for twelve months. 
In all my intercourse with him, and in all I have seen 
and heard of him, I have found him a worthy and con- 
sistent man, and I do most heartily and devoutly 
rejoice that God has opened a way to comfort in Liberia. 

L 



146 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

May God in his mercy and comfort go with him, and 
render his ways prosperous for this life, and grant us to 
meet again in the life eternal, to enjoy the holy, exalted, 
eternal liberty of the ransomed One in glory. 

"Thomas Lord, 

"Independent Minister." 



u Kettering, Northamptonshire, 

"December, 1862. 

" My personal acquaintance with Mr. John Anderson 
is but slight, but, in common with many others, I have 
felt deep interest in the story of his escape from slavery. 
The testimony of the gentlemen whose names precede 
my own, and who are well known to me, is abundantly 
sufficient to attest his character. I wish him every 
blessing in the land to which he is going, and join with 
all lovers of man and God in the earnest desire that his 
wife and family may soon be free, and that ere long 
the chains of every slave may be broken for ever. 

"James Mursell, 

" Baptist Minister" 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 147 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FAREWELL SOIREE TO JOHN ANDERSON. 

On Monday evening, December 22nd, 1862, the 
members and friends of the "John Anderson Com- 
mittee" held a farewell meeting at Shirley's Hotel, 
Queen's-square, London, previous to the departure of 
Anderson for the Republic of Liberia. 

Amongst the gentlemen present were Harper 
Twelvetrees, Esq., (chairman of the Committee) ; Cooke 
Baines, Esq., 'and Joseph A. Horner, Esq., the Honorary 
Secretaries ; Rev. J. G. Hewlett, D.D., F. W. Chesson, 
Esq.; J. Noble, Esq., jun. ; W. Farmer, Esq. ; Professor 
W. G. Allen, M.A., (a gentleman of colour) ; Stephen 
Shirley, Esq.; Messrs. Pool, Eaton, C. Bell, Ford* &c.,&c. 

After tea, Mr. Twelvetrees was called upon to occupy 
the chair, and the Rev. Dr. Hewlett having opened the 
meeting with prayer, 

The Chairman stated that they had met for the pur- 
pose of congratulating John Anderson on the present 
favourable circumstances in his history, and also to 
assure him of their best wishes for his success in the path 
which Providence had opened up for him. He (the 



148 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Chairman) felt sure that he was only uttering the desires 
of every member of the committee and of all present when 
he said, that they earnestly desired for their friend and bro- 
ther the enjoyment of every blessing which a bountiful 
and beneficent God might see fit to bestow ; that he might 
be prosperous and successful in his new sphere of duty 
and labour ; and be spared many years to enjoy the 
reward of his industry in the land of his adoption. It 
was somewhat more than eighteen months since John 
Anderson trod on English soil as a trembling fugitive. 
His public reception in London must have convinced 
him that, although he had had a run for life and liberty, 
he had at last distanced his oppressors, and was beyond 
the power of those who thirsted for his blood. Since 
the meeting at Exeter Hall, at which the committee was 
formed, he felt sure that no pains or exertion had been 
spared by the committee to promote his welfare and 
forward his interests. Their task had not been an easy 
one. (Hear.) It had been a matter of considerable 
anxiety to decide upon the best course to adopt for 
enabling Anderson to gain his livelihood, and become an 
industrious, respected and useful citizen. Many gen- 
tlemen present would remember that, at the time of 
Anderson's arrival in England, the country was in a 
state of excitement respecting the man who had been 
the subject of Colonial dispatches and interdicts from 
the Home Office, and that Anderson was, day by day, 
receiving temporary offers from speculators of various 
classes ; and had it not been for the influence and 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 149 

control of the committee, he would have fallen a prey 
to designing men, who would have bargained with him 
for using the sorrowful incidents of his life for trading 
upon the sympathies of the public. (Hear.) If the 
committee had done nothing else, there was cause for 
gratitude that they had been enabled to preserve 
Anderson from contributing to the gratification of sight- 
seers, and leading a worse than useless life. (Hear, 
hear.) After a few public meetings had been held, 
which were attended by a deputation from the com- 
mittee, consisting of the Rev. J. G. Hewlett, D.D. ; 
George Thompson, Esq. ; John Xoble, Esq., jun. ; it 
was deemed advisable to withdraw Anderson from 
public life, and decline all invitations for him to attend 
public meetings. The committee at that period were 
indebted to the Bev. Dr. Hewlett, who kindly engaged 
to receive Anderson under his roof, and devote his 
time and attention to his mental, moral, and religious 
cultivation. Subsequently, in order to withdraw him 
from the excitement occasioned by his residence in 
the metropolis, Anderson was placed under the care 
of Mr. John Pool, of the British Training Insti- 
tution, Corby, where he had gradually progressed 
in his studies, and prepared himself for the discharge 
of the duties which devolved upon him as a responsible 
member of society. As Anderson's period of instruction 
drew near to its close, the anxiety of the committee was 
again awakened as to his future employment and mode 
of life ; and in this emergency they accepted the kind 



150 LIFE OF JOHN ANDEKSON. 

offer of the services of Mr. F. W. Chesson, who pro- 
mised to solicit of Gerard Ralston, Esq., Consul- 
General of Liberia, and the African Mail Company,* 
respectively, a grant of land, and a free passage to that 
important and thriving negro Republic, which, as they 
were aware, had been most generously granted. Liberia 
was a respectable commonwealth, on the Coast of 
Guinea, numbering about 500,000 souls, where the 
American flag was hoisted in the year 1822. The climate 
was admirably adapted to Anderson's southern constitu- 
tion; and the country produced rice, Indian corn, cotton, 
indigo, pepper, ginger, palm-oil, arrowroot, pine-apples, 
tamarinds, and every species of tropical produce which 
afforded ample supplies for the residents, and for the 
demands of shipping. As Anderson had been a farmer 
and had the management of crops for his former masters, 
the experience he had gained would be serviceable to 
him in conducting his own affairs ; and he (the Chairman) 
trusted some day to hear of him as a prosperous and 
w-ealthy settler in the "land of promise" to the negro. 
He had now an opportunity of making for himself a 
respectable position in life, for he was going out under 
the most favourable auspices — with recommendations 
and introductions to the principal officers of state in the 
Republic ; and, as his present wants were provided for, 
and his future wants guarded against, he (the Chair- 
man) trusted that, with God's blessing on his exeitions, 
he would rise to respectability and independence. All 
that remained for them was to congratulate him on 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 151 

the auspicious opening that presented itself, and wish 
him God speed in his future career : and if he should be 
prosperous in his undertakings, and become a large 
employer of labour and acquire considerable property, 
he (the Chairman) trusted he would honour the Lord 
with his substance, and enjoy the favour and the bless- 
ing of Him who has said, " They that honour me I will 
honour." (Cheers.) 

Cooke Baines, Esq. (one of the Honorary Secre- 
taries), after reading letters of apology from the Hon- 
ourable Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., George Thompson, 
Esq., Rev. C. J. Middleditch, Rev. Thomas Jones, and 
other gentlemen who had been invited to the meeting, 
proceeded to read the following communications, which 
he had received from Gerard Ralston, Esq., Consul- 
General for Liberia : — 

" Consulate- General of Liberia, 
" December 16th, 1862. 

" Gentlemen, — I enclose you the ticket for the second- 
class cabin for Mr. John Anderson for the African steam 
ship Armenian leaving Liverpool for Cape Palmas, on 
the 24th inst. I hope this ticket will procure for Mr. 
Armenian a comfortable passage to Liberia, where, on 
his arrival, I trust he will find friends to receive him 
kindly, and to do all in their power to promote his 
welfare. I send also some notes of introduction to 
gentlemen, who will, I hope, prove useful to him. I 
regret that I shall be so engaged on the 22nd — being 
engaged in preparing for the African mail, — that it will 



152 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

not be in my power to be present at the social meeting, 
to take leave of Mr. Anderson on the eve of his de- 
parture for Africa. I should have been glad to attend 
upon that occasion, for possibly I might have said a few 
words to Mr. Anderson to encourage him to go to 
Liberia in expectation that, if he should be blessed with 
good health, he will be sure to succeed, and become a 
useful citizen of the Republic, provided he exercise 
good sense, good conduct, and good industry. There is 
not a more eligible country in the world than Liberia 
for the negro — particularly an American negro, — where 
he will find his compatriots in power, and his own 
language, laws, religion, manners, and all the institutions 
he has left behind in full force. There is the greatest 
abundance of natural wealth in Liberia; and only capital 
and skilled labour are required to develope it. I have no 
doubt Mr. Anderson will be a most useful immigrant, 
and, I trust, he will be a successful one. Wishing 
Mr. Anderson health and prosperity, 

" I remain, gentlemen, with great respect, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

" Gerard Ralston. 

" Cooke Baines, Esq., ) Honorary Secretaries of the 
Joseph A. Horner, Esq.,) John Anderson Committee. 

"P.S. — If Mr. Anderson should happen to be in my 
neighbourhood in the city before he embarks, I should 
be pleased if he will favour me with a visit. G.R," 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 153 

" Consulate- General of Liberia. 
" Gentlemen, — Having recommended the bearer, John 
Anderson, the fugitive slave, from Missouri, who lately 
lived in Canada, and subsequently in England, to remove 
to Liberia, where I hope he will succeed and become a 
useful citizen and a useful inhabitant of that rising and 
prosperous state, I beg to recommend him to the kind 
and useful attention of gentlemen like yourselves, and all 
other persons desirous of promoting the welfare of 
persons of the negro race. 

" To Mr. President Benson, Monrovia. 
„ Mr. Ex-President Roberts „ 
,, The Sec. of State, General Lewis, Monrovia. 
,, The Rev. I. S. Payne, ,, 

,, Mr. John H. Chavers, ,, 

„ Mr. Hilary Johnson, ,, 

,, Mr. Secretary of the Treasury Lynch „ 
,, The Hon. Mr. Gibson, Superintendent Cape 

Palmas. 
,, Mr. Senator Marshall, Cape Palmas. 
„ The Right Rev. Bishop Payne, Cape Palmas. 

And all other persons well disposed towards the coloured 
people. 

" I am, with great regard and respect, Gentlemen, 

u Your most obedient and faithful servant 

" Gerard Ralston." 



154 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

The Rev. J. G. Hewlett, D.D., then rose and de- 
livered the valedictory address, as follows : — 

" Allow me to assure you, John Anderson, that it is 
my firm conviction that the course which the Committee 
has adopted, in selecting Liberia as the sphere of your 
future action, is the best which, under all circumstances, 
could be adopted. I express a confident hope that, in 
a very short time, you will prove that you have now a 
broad and firm basis on which your future and temporal 
prosperity and happiness may be reared. You will find in 
Liberia a land of peace and liberty — a home where you 
will not be disturbed by the slave-hunter, or in any other 
way be in danger of losing your liberty. You go to be 
acknowledged as a free citizen of that Republic, where 
the offices of state will be open to you according to your 
qualifications and merits. I trust you will not forget, 
that the influence of your conduct and character will 
have great weight in either confirming the prejudices of 
some against men of colour, or in showing that those 
prejudices are false and slanderous. Let it be seen 
that your race are capable of becoming honourable 
and useful members of any community into which they 
may be received. You, dear friend, are now beginning 
life afresh. You are starting under peculiar advantages 
if you will turn those advantages to the best account. 
You are going to a country where a sphere of active 
exertion is marked out for you. You go neither as a 
pauper nor as a slave. You go with letters of introduc- 
tions and recommendations, of which many European 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ARDERSON. 155 

emigrants would be proud. You go with introductions to 
those of the highest official station in that land of your 
adoption. You go with all the benefit of past experience. 
You know yourself a little better than you did some 
time ago ; you know the temptations to which you are 
exposed ; and you know those which are likely to act 
mo it powerfully for your injury, and you are, in some 
measure, prepared to shun or resist them. All you know 
you will require to bring to bear upon your daily 
practice. And, after all, the knowledge of the past 
should stimulate to greater and future exertions. Let 
me advise you still to persevere in the acquisition of 
knowledge, and the improvement of your intellect. As 
yet you have but the elements of knowledge. Give 
daily attention to your moral and spiritual nature. 
Spend a portion of every day in communion with God 
and with your own heart. If the Spirit of God has 
commenced his work of regeneration, you need to pray 
for his continued help. Combine watchfulness with 
prayer ; for prayer without watchfulness is hyprocrisy, 
as watchfulness without prayer would be presumption. 
Be careful in choosing your friends. Do not readily 
think that every one who speaks to you smooth things 
and flattering words is your friend. He is not your 
friend who would say or do anything to divert you 
from the path of duty, though he should make great 
professions of friendship. He is your friend who would 
urge you on to higher and higher attainments, both in 
knowledge and holiness. He is your friend who will 



156 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

kindly point out your failings, and gently administer 
reproof when needed, because he keeps your best in- 
terests in view. And though you are going to a far 
distant country, you will always have a place in the 
memory, and an interest in the prayers, of many in this 
country. I am sure I speak the sentiments of the 
gentlemen by whom I am surrounded, when I say, ice 
shall keep you constantly in our remembrance. You 
know we have taken a deep interest in your welfare ; 
you have often acknowledged that in my hearing ; and 
we assure you that that interest will not be diminished, 
but greatly increased, when we think of you in a foreign 
land. We shall, at all times and in all circumstances, be 
gratified to hear from you, and nothing would so con- 
tribute to raise that gratification to its highest height, as 
the knowledge that, by God's blessing, you were 
prospering, and that you were advancing in honour and 
wealth for time, and preparing for the blessedness of 
eternity. While I am very far from ignoring the 
blessing of Providence, on the contrary, desire earnestly 
that you may seek and obtain it ; yet there is a sense 
in which your future must, to a great extent, depend on 
yourself to complete what has been begun for you. 
Much will depend on your own exertions. You will, on 
your arrival in Liberia, be put in possession of five acres 
of land. By bringing your experience to agricultural- 
pursuits, and by persevering in industrious toil, you may 
soon make this land a source of wealth. From all I 
can learn, the productions of Liberia being cotton, 






FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 157 

tobacco, pimento, and others, like those of Missouri, the 
country from which you fled, I conclude the climate 
must be somewhat similar, and therefore suited to your 
health and constitution ; and the soil similar, and there- 
fore requiring the same culture. In your experience of 
the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, pepper, &c, you 
have a capital you may at once employ to advantage. 
Though it is not for any of us to look into the future, 
yet I do venture to predict that, if you will but attend 
to the good advice which you have received from many 
here present, you will ere long become a holder of large 
tracts of land, and an employer of many labourers. 
Should this be the case, let your remembrance of the 
horrors of slavery induce you ever to treat men as men, 
and not as goods or cattle. Eemember the sacred rights 
of humanity, and never tyrannize over your fellow-men. 
I will add but one more remark, and that is, let me 
advise you at all times to be frank and truthful. Be 
careful what you say. Let your words be not only 
so plain that they may be understood, but so plain that 
they cannot be misunderstood. Let neither your words 
or actions be a just cause of suspicion. Maintain the 
high character of an honest man and a Christian. Make 
the position in which the letter of the Consul-General 
is intended to place you, a stepping-stone to one yet 
higher. And now may the blessing of God rest upon 
you, guide and protect you through all the scenes that 
await you, and prepare you for the happiness of the life 
to come. Farewell ! 



158 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

The Rev. Gentleman was repeatedly applauded during 
the delivery of his address, which he concluded by 
moving the following resolution : — 

11 That this meeting expresses its earnest desire for 
the prosperity and happiness of John Anderson in the 
Republic of Liberia, of which he is about to become 
a free citizen beyond the reach of the man- stealer." 

John Noble, jun., Esq., said, he had very great 
pleasure in seconding the resolution. When John 
Anderson first came to this country the committee had 
taken him by the hand, had maintained and educated 
him, and thus put him in the way of obtaining a position 
far above that of many of their own countrymen. He 
would not be a mere hewer of wood and drawer of 
water in the land to which he was going, but would 
commence his career as a landed-proprietor. (Hear, 
hear.) If he had fallen into other hands he would 
probably have become a dock-labourer, or occupied 
some other position equally low in the social scale. 
Instead of this, he was about to sail for Liberia, a land 
which he might call one of experiment, for it was so in 
reality, — a state created for the purpose of demonstrating 
to the world that the negro race could govern them- 
selves and dwell in a civilized community as well as the 
white race — (cheers) ; — that, as a race, they are not 
distinct in nature from ourselves ; but can govern and 
conduct themselves in a manner to show that they enjoy 
and appreciate the blessing of civilization. He (Mr. 
Noble) looked upon that experiment, in view of the 
fearful crime cf slavery, as one of a most encouraging 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 159 

and satisfactory character. It had been said that the 
negro race was an inferior one ; that it was necessary to 
keep them in some kind of bondage ; that they would 
not work, and could not exist in freedom. The Republic 
of Liberia is an attempt to answer such allegations ; it 
was, so to speak, the first instance of a negro community 
existing under similar conditions to those of the white 
races. This laid a deep responsibility upon John 
Anderson and his future fellow-citizens, — that in this 
first attempt at self-government they should conclusively 
refute the assertions of the slave-owners. If this ex- 
periment should fail, with it the hopes of the entire 
negro race will fail also : if it is successful, no limit need 
be placed to restrict them in the enjoyment of the 
uttermost possible liberty. (Cheers.) He trusted that 
John Anderson would feel that upon his behaviour in his 
newly-adopted country would depend, in some degree, 
the future destiny of the entire negro race ; and that 
the committee who, though separated by distance, would 
ever hear of his welfare with joy, would find their 
reward in his being a sober, prosperous, and respectable 
citizen of the free community of Liberia. (Hear, hear.) 
He went forth under the best auspices, with such in- 
troductions to the court and government of Liberia, as 
the son of the proudest nobleman would receive ; and 
the committee had no doubt that, in future years, when 
he had become a wealthy and prosperous citizen, that 
John Anderson would feel that the present step was the 
wisest that could have been taken for his permanent 
well-being. (Applause) 



160 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Professor W. G. Allen, M.A., next addressed the 
meeting, and said that he could only reiterate what Mr. 
Noble had said, for that gentleman had touched upon 
the very points which he intended to present to their 
notice. As a man of colour, he could only thank them 
for what they had done on behalf of John Anderson. 
He naturally felt, belonging as he did to the same race, 
a deep interest in John Anderson s welfare. Anderson 
might think, perhaps, that he was going to a cold and 
cheerless country, but it was not so ; he was going to 
one of the finest in the world. He (Professor Allen) 
had often thought of the history of Old Africa ; and 
grand and glorious as that history was, he believed her 
future was destined to be grander and more glorious still, 
because, elevated by the genius and power of Chris- 
tianity. The world moves upwards — Ethiopia, Egypt, 
and Carthage, were great indeed, but Liberia was des- 
tined to be greater. There was one conclusion, however, 
that must force itself upon their minds — Africa could 
only become great again by the capacity of Africans to 
make her so. It was for the African race to vindicate 
themselves from the calumnies of their oppressors. 
(Hear, hear.) They ought not to complain of the blows 
they received, but gather strength to prevent them. 
Any race that was down would sure to be well abused. 
As for Liberia, from all he could gather, and he had 
paid much attention to the subject, he believed it to be 
a beautiful country. Its climate was healthy, and it 
was rich in natural resources. . The society in Monrovia 
was good, and there was much that was even elegant 



i 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 161 

and refined. He recollected when he was in America 
he, in common with most coloured people, imbibed a 
strong prejudice against the place when it was first talked 
of. They saw no reason why they should be deported 
from the places in which they were born. Entertaining 
the same opinion still, that the blacks have as good a 
right to remain in America or elsewhere as the whites, 
he had, nevertheless, come to look upon Liberia as 
established by an over-ruling Providence for good, and 
did not care now to go into the motive of its founders. 
He felt that there were strong reasons to congratulate 
himself, John Anderson, and his race, that there existed 
this green and inviting spot. Thither he hoped John 
Anderson would go, and carry with him all the courage 
and energy of his character. He had given some proofs 
that he possessed these attributes. ("Hear, hear.) He 
(the Professor) hoped he would never be called upon to 
show them in the same way again, but in a milder and 
more Christian spirit. (Cheers.) Depend upon it (he 
reiterated) Africa has a glorious future before her. 
Greece was made illustrious by her arts and literature 
— Eome, by her jurisprudence and military spirit — 
England and America, by their commercial and indus- 
trial enterprises. It remained then, for another race 
to illustrate the milder genius and more amiable quali- 
ties of human character, and that he believed to be the 
destiny of poor, down-trodden, despised Africa. He re- 
joiced in Liberia. In speaking of the African race, how- 
ever, he must not forget to pay a passing tribute to Hayti. 

M 



162 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Here was a nation of Africans in the western world, that 
had already illustrated the highest qualities of statesman- 
ship and military genius, as the history of Toussaint 
L'Ouverture and his noble compeers clearly showed — a 
nation of men, that had not only shown that they knew 
their rights and were determined to maintain them, but 
"who, under the lead of the wise and humane Geffrard, 
were further destined to show forth the entire capacity 
of the African for self-government. All honour there- 
fore to Hayti. But, while not honouring Hayti less, he 
must say that he was profoundly interested in the con- 
tinent of Africa, its magnificent country, its innumerable 
and splendid aboriginal races, and it was on this 
account he felt a peculiar interest in Liberia. He be- 
lieved it to be the beginning of a glorious end. Ethiopia 
was about to stretch out her hands unto God. Jehovah 
who had smitten Egypt was now about to heal her. 
The darkness was giving way to the light. The 
mystery of the mysterious land was about to be solved. 
(Applause.) If his family relations would permit it, he 
did not know but what he should have gone to Liberia 
himself. But his wife objected to that course, and as 
he could not get a divorce for that, he supposed he must 
stay where he was. (Laughter.) Well, then, he would 
recommend his friend John Anderson to think of the 
history of Africa, and to work for her future glory, and 
he wished him in his new home, prosperity and happi- 
ness. (Applause. ) 

The resolution was then put and carried unanimously. 



FAKE WELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 163 

John Anderson, who was received with applause, 
said he was sure he had to thank the Chairman, the 
Committee, and friends, for their kindness to him, and 
he hardly knew how to do so as he ought. The remarks 
which had been made by his coloured friend, Professor 
Allen, had struck him very much. He at' one time 
felt a great prejudice against Liberia — against even the 
very name of it, — but what he had since heard about it, 
had removed that prejudice altogether. (Hear, hear.) 
He was sure a debt of gratitude was due to the gentle- 
men who formed the committee, especially the Chairman, 
Mr. Harper Twelvetrees, for he had done double — 
(cheers and laughter), — then Mr. J. A. Horner, Mr. 
Cooke Baines, Mr. George Thompson, Mr. Chesson, 
and Mr. John Noble. (Hear, hear.) All of them had 
been very kind to him. He hardly knew what to say to 
show the gratitude he felt at what had been done for 
him. He regretted that his going away so soon would 
prevent him from calling upon many other friends whom 
he wanted to see before he left England. He had found 
many friends here who had been very kind to him. 
Through the kindness of the committee, he had been 
able to learn a little ; and now he felt a desire to know 
more. He wished he had begun earlier, but he was 
glad that he had laid a good foundation for the future. 
(Cheers.) Some of the gentlemen had said to him that 
he might some day be President of Liberia. He 
thought he should want a little more instruction in many 
branches of knowledge. At any rate, he trusted that 



164 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

their efforts for his improvement would not be in vain. 
(Hear, hear.) He did not know how he could repay 
them for their kindness to him ; but he hoped the Lord 
would bless each and every one of them for what they 
had done for him. His privileges had been certainly 
very great. He had received much sympathy and 
assistance from the good and intelligent people of 
England ; and that was why he regretted leaving them. 
He felt that he was going out to Liberia under great 
advantages. From all he could learn it seemed a good 
sort of place. When he first went to Canada he 
had not a friend in the world ; but through God's 
providence he soon got plenty, and by the same 
aid he would try to succeed in Liberia. (Cheers.) 
His condition might have been much worse. As a slave 
he had seen much suffering and distress. He sometimes 
thought that no man in the world had gone through so 
many troubles as he had ; but he supposed every man 
thought the same who had any troubles to bear. 
(Laughter.) He was sure they would admit that his afflic- 
tions had been great. (Hear.) He had left his poor wife 
and child in slavery — sometimes he entertained the hope 
of seeing them again ; but the difficulties were so great 
that the thought vanished. God would, however, 
watch over them and protect them. He should have 
liked to have stopped at school another year, so as to 
have increased his stock of learning ; but he was very 
thankful to the committee and the English people for 
what they had already done for him. He was happy 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 165 

to say that he could now read the Scriptures, and he 
never imagined that they contained the glorious truths 
which they did. (Cheers.) In writing he could begin 
to put the letters together and that was something. 
(Hear and laughter. J For these blessings he must 
thank them all ; Mr. Harper Twelvetrees first, and 
above all the rest, because he had done the most (hear 
hear) ; then the two Secretaries, Mr. Cooke Baines and 
Mr.Horner ; the Committee; and then the English people. 
(Cheers.) When he arrived at Liberia he would write 
to them, and he hoped they would answer his letters. 
It would pain him if he wrote to them as well as he 
could and got no answer to his letters. Dr. Hewlett 
had advised him to speak plainly. He was afraid that 
was a great fault of his, (laughter) he thought he spoke 
exceedingly plain ; but if he spoke too plainly he hoped 
they would pardon him. The Bible told them to go 
and " reason together," and he was willing to reason 
with any man, even a slave- dealer, provided he did not 
lay hands upon him. But if the slave-dealer would not 
keep his hands off he would warn him off; and if he 
still persisted in laying hands upon him he would strike 
for life and liberty. In conclusion he thanked them 
for all they had kindly done for him, which he should 
remember to his dying hour. (Cheers.) 

F. W. Chesson, Esq., Secretary of the Aborigines' 
Protection Society, proposed the following resolution : — 

"That this Meeting tenders its cordial thanks to 
Gerard Ealston, Esq., Consul-General of Liberia, for the 



166 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

trouble lie has taken on John Andersons behalf, in 
arranging for his passage to, and settlement in, the 
Republic of Liberia ; that the thanks of this Meeting 
are due, and are hereby given to the Chairman and 
Directors of the West African Mail Packet Company, 
for their kindness in granting a passage to John 
Anderson at almost a nominal rate ; and that this Meeting 
earnestly prays for the prosperity of the important 
Negro State, of which Mr. Ralston is the representative 
in this country." 

He (Mr. Chesson) moved this resolution with peculiar 
pleasure, as he had for many years been on terms of in- 
timacy with Mr. Ralston, and could render emphatic tes- 
timony to the great and disinterested services which that 
gentleman had rendered to Liberia. He knew, from what 
had been told him by persons high in authority, that those 
services were fully appreciated by both the government 
and people of Liberia ; and, although the negro race was 
now necessarily, in a great measure, ignorant of Mr. 
Ralston's efforts for their benefit, he believed the time 
would come when millions of this suffering people 
would mention his name with gratitude, and honour him 
as one who rejoiced to identify himself with them in the 
days of their humiliation and servitude. (Cheers.) 
The establishment of an independent and civilized negro 
state on the West Coast of Africa was a fact full of hope 
for the people of that continent. Liberia was the one 
little oasis in the wilderness, but the oasis would extend, 
and the whole land would one day smile with fertility. 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 167 

Wherever Liberian influence might extend, the evils of 

fetishism, sorcery, and domestic slander would speedily 

disappear, and their place be taken by purer customs 

and a higher faith. (Hear, hear.) For several years 

past he had anxiously watched the policy of the Liberian 

government, and he was bound to say, that there was 

nothing in that policy to which he could take exception; 

and that, when they were involved in difficulties with 

Spain and England of a character more or less grave, 

they acted with remarkable wisdom. He had been much 

gratified with one remark that had fallen from John 

Anderson — he said that he wished to acquire still further 

education; that what he had learnt made him desire to 

learn still more. (Hear, hear.) That was a desire worthy 

to be encouraged, and one of the noblest that could be 

implanted in the human mind. He (Mr. Chesson) was 

glad to say that he would find in his new home many men 

of his own race who were actuated by the same sentiment; 

and what was of equal importance, he would find the most 

ample opportunities for its gratification. In Monrovia, 

the capital of the Republic, there was a splendid college, 

which had its professors, who were men of learning and 

high attainments. At least, one of them, the Rev. 

Alexander Crummell, had graduated at Cambridge 

University, and had entered holy orders as a clergyman 

of the English Church. Let John Anderson, in going 

to Liberia, be encouraged by what individual Liberians 

had done for their own improvement and elevation. 

There was President Benson himself, a native of Mary- 



168 LIFE OF JOHX ANDERSON. 

land, who went to the country of which he was now the 
chief magistrate, at the age of seven years, and who 
never once left the shores of Africa until he visited 
Europe a few months ago. He received his entire 
education at the grammar-school of Monrovia ; and yet 
he (Mr. Chesson) had the privilege of hearing him address 
public audiences in this country, in language of the 
purest English, and on all occasions he proved himself 
to be an accomplished and well-informed gentleman, tit 
to take his place in any assembly in the world. (Cheers.) 
He might also mention Mr. ex-President Roberts, one of 
the pillars of the state, between whom and his successor 
, no petty rivalry existed. Chief-Justice Drayton, who 
came from South Carolina— a state in which teaching a 
slave to read is an offence punishable with imprisonment 
and death. Mr. Secretary Johnson, whose letters in 
the Liberian Herald, describing his visit to England, 
were as lively and vigorous as the speeches he delivered 
in this country : and many other bright examples of self- 
made men. He did not say that John Anderson should 
expect or ever hope to take his place among men 
occupying this position. Every man was not born to 
rule or guide the ship of state ; but the ability was given 
to every educated and intelligent human being to live a 
life of public usefulness and of private rectitude. (Hear, 
hear.) By all means let John Anderson aspire, but he 
should first lay down a basis of knowledge — devote him- 
self sedulously to his own mental improvement and to 
those industrial pursuits in which he would shortly 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 169 

engage. (Applause.) If, as the result of his exertions, 
he should only secure in acquiring a reputation as a 
brave and honest citizen, those in this country who had 
interested themselves in his welfare, and who would still 
continue to watch his career, would be abundantly 
rewarded for all their labour, and would never have 
cause to regret that they had been the means of giving 
him his new start in life. (Cheers.) He desired to say 
one word more on the subject of negro self-government. 
It should not be forgotten that there was another state 
besides Liberia, in which the children of Africa were 
exhibiting the highest capacity of civilized men. He 
referred to Hayti, where ex-President Geffrard was 
ruling with a benignity and wisdom which found few 
parallels in older states ; and he rejoiced to know that 
this noble Eepublic and its African sister were united 
by a treaty of commerce and amity — a treaty which, he 
believed, had been first suggested by himself to a former 
Haytian minister in London. He was sure that this in- 
ternational bond would prove enduring, because it was 
the growth of mutual confidence, respect, and good- 
will. (Applause.) 

William Farmer, Esq., in seconding the resolution, 
said that he could endorse all that had been said by 
his friend, Mr. Chesson, respecting the State of Liberia. 
He had not the privilege of an acquaintance with 
Mr. President Benson, but from all he had read of him, 
he believed him to be fully entitled to the commenda- 
tions which had been passed upon him. (Hear, hear. 



170 LIFE OF JOHN A2TDERSON. 

He (Mr. Farmer) had at one time shared in the prejudice 
entertained by the free-coloured people against the 
Republic of Liberia, but he was glad to notice an 
improved state of opinion on this subject, and that the 
experiment of forming a negro commonwealth was no 
longer considered a degradation, but a blessing to the 
coloured race. He was also gratified with the observa- 
tion of John Anderson as to his desire for further in- 
struction — it was a noble sentiment; and he had no 
doubt, that with his present acquirements, he would 
endeavour to educate himself and attain greater pro- 
ficiency in knowledge. One of the most distinguished 
men of his race, Frederick Douglas, was a self-educated 
man, (cheers,) who did not even possess the advantages 
which John Anderson did, but by his own untiring efTorts 
rose to his present eminent position ; and some of the 
most remarkable men in our own country were self- 
educated men, who had raised themselves from a 
comparatively humble position, to eminence, by their 
own exertions. William Cobbett had taught himself to 
read while keeping sentry; and he (Mr. Farmer) had 
heard that eloquent friend of the slave, George Thomp- 
son, state from the hustings, that he had never received 
a day's schooling in his life. These were only a few 
instances of self-educated men, but the number could be 
multiplied at pleasure. John Anderson was about to 
assume a responsible position as a representative man. 
The Republic of Liberia would have much to do with 
the future history of America, inasmuch, as its progress 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 171 

would exert a powerful influence upon the question 
of the liberty of the slave in that unhappy country. 
He would be put in possession of a grant of land on his 
arrival at the country that was to be his future home, 
and thus he would enjoy an advantage which he 
(Mr. Farmer) did not possess. John Anderson had a 
good physical constitution, and also a knowlege of 
farming in a tropical climate ; and therefore he was in 
a better position for ensuring success than many others 
on their arrival in a new country. (Cheers.) The 
resolution was then unanimously adopted. 

Cooke Baines, Esq. next proposed the following 
resolution : — 

"That this meeting expresses its warm approval 
of the manner in which the Eev. Dr. Hewlett and 
Mr. John Pool conducted the education of John 
Anderson during the time he was under the charge of 
those gentlemen." 

Mr. Baines stated that they had only to run their 
eyes over the evidences that he had then before 
him to find abundant testimony of the value of the 
instruction which had been imparted to Anderson. 
When John Anderson first came to this country he did 
not feel even the desire for instruction, and if the gen- 
tlemen referred to in the resolution had only succeeded 
in implanting that one idea in his mind during the 
twelvemonths he had been with them, they had accom- 
plished something worthy of their warmest praise. 
(Hear, hear.) When John Anderson arrived in Liberia 



172 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

he would more fully appreciate the value of the instruc- 
tion he had already received, for the little knowledge 
he possessed would assist him to more, if the desire for 
further instruction remained. In the Negro Republic 
he would find many friends willing to assist and encou- 
rage him, if he manifested a becoming disposition, united 
with perseverance and energy. He might not live to 
become President of Liberia, nor might he be able to 
attain a very exalted position in that free republic, but 
he could and ought to strive to become a good, useful, 
and respectable citizen of his adopted country. (Cheers.) 
He was going to a country where his colour was not a 
mark of degradation ; and he (Mr. Baines) felt bound 
to express the sincerest hopes of his warmest friends 
that his future course of life would show that he was 
worthy of his freedom. (Cheers.) 

Joseph A. Horner, Esq., in seconding the resolu- 
tion said, that in his position as one of the Honorary 
Secretaries to the Committee he had had ample 
opportunities of judging of the progress that John 
Anderson had made, by the letters received from him, 
from time to time. During his sojourn in London there 
were circumstances known to the Committee which 
prevented him from making that progress in his studies, 
which he otherwise would have done. At Corby, how- 
ever, he not only enjoyed the advantages of being under 
an able instructor like Mr. Pool, but also the benefit of 
seclusion and quiet while engaged in the acquisition of 
knowledge. He had also the advantage of the personal 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 173 

sympathies of Mr. Pool himself, who had always been 
a warm friend of the Anti-Slavery movement. Mr. Pool 
would tell them that Anderson had conducted himself 
honourably, and that he should never desire a more 
tractable pupil ; (cheers) and he was sure the Committee 
had reason to congratulate themselves in having secured 
such a guardian for John Anderson as that gentleman 
had proved himself during the last twelve months. 
John Anderson had expressed in their hearing that 
night his wish to become a missionary. He (Mr. 
Homer), regarded Liberia as one of the most promising 
missionary enterprises of the day, and his life could be 
consecrated to the service and glory of God in a republic 
which was itself a grand missionary field. There were 
half a million of coloured people among whom he might 
labour, where his colour instead of being a disadvantage 
would prove a recommendation. (Hear, hear.) The noble 
examples alluded to by Mr. Chesson were calculated 
to encourage him in his efforts, when he should become 
the citizen of a state which was not only free, but based 
upon elevating and Christian principles, and one in 
which the black man could attain the highest office of 
the Republic. (Cheers.) John Anderson had cause 
to rejoice in his removal to a country where a black 
face was more popular than a white one. He (Mr. 
Horner) was almost afraid that Anderson would soon 
imbibe a prejudice against white men. (Laughter.) In 
Liberia the colour of the skin was the qualification of 
citizenship, and not the mark of slavery. John 



174 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

Anderson must endeavour to combat with that prejudice 
if he found it growing upon him, (increased laughter) 
and he also trusted that he would keep his friends 
acquainted with his progress by frequently writing to 
them. Speaking for himself he would cheerfully under- 
take to answer all the letters with which he might be 
favoured. Anderson would not be very far away 
from them — only twenty-one days sail, and he wished 
him all prosperity in his newly-adopted country. 
(Applause.) 

The resolution was then submitted to the meeting 
and adopted. 

Me. John Pool, of Corby, in responding, expressed 
his thanks for their recognition of his humble services. 
There was always a satisfaction in doing one's duty, u 
the satisfaction he then experienced was increased 
considerably by the knowledge that his labours were 
appreciated by those on whose behalf they had been 
undertaken. When John Anderson first came to him, 
he (Mr. Pool) felt that he was a representative man, and 
that a deep responsibility rested upon him (Mr. Pool), 
for if he should not succeed with Anderson as he desired, 
he should thus be the occasion of disappointing the ex- 
pectations of the Committee; and thef riends of slavery 
would refer to their failure, and henceforth speak in 
tones of contempt of the efforts of abolitionists. (Hear, 
hear.) Being cradled in the principles of abolition, he 
(Mr. Pool) was actuated by a feeling of sympathy and 
interest in his work, and he believed that his success 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ANDERSON. 175 

with Anderson would be destined to exert an influence 
upon the interests of the coloured race throughout 
the world. (Cheers.) He was, therefore, happy to 
say that the result had been of the most satisfactory 
character. He left the parish of Corby without a 
stain upon his character — a general favourite with 
all classes ; while the testimonials of the various min- 
isters of religion of all denominations, showed that 
he had gained their confidence and goodwill. (Hear, 
hear.) Anderson had abstained from public speaking, 
in accordance with the instructions of the Committee, 
until the previous week, when, as he was preparing to 
leave the neighbourhood, he was allowed to narrate the 
history of his escape to the rustics of the village. The 
excitement connected with his arrival in England greatly 
unfitted him for much mental progress. By degrees, 
however, his temperament had become subdued ; and 
the progress he had since made was of the most satis- 
factory character. His last letter to Mr. Horner was 
indited and written entirely by himself. He could read 
a chapter in the New Testament without hesitating at a 
word, unless it should be an extraordinary long word. 
He could also understand the sense and meaning of what 
he read, and has been able to master the first four rules 
in arithmetic — simple and compound, and make out a 
simple bill of account correctly. (Cheers.) As regarded 
Anderson's general conduct, the longer he remained 
with him the more it improved; so that he could not help 
feeling gratified that he was leaving them under such 



176 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

auspicious circumstances ; and if he ever rose to an 
eminent position, he should recollect with pleasure the 
part he had taken in preparing him for his future career. 
Anderson's future conduct would prove whether their 
exertions to promote his well-being had been appre- 
ciated or not ; and he hoped he would ever maintain an 
honourable and useful position in life that could be 
referred to with satisfaction by his friends. He must 
not be content with a character built only upon the 
sandy foundation of fame and notoriety, but upon the 
solid foundation of knowledge and Christian principles, 
which had been already laid. He was not deficient in 
mental capacity, and might reasonably be expected to 
exert a wide influence for good in the country to which 
he was going. He would be a representative man, to 
strengthen or weaken the position of his coloured 
brethren still in bondage. He would go from this 
country the pioneer of emancipated slavery, to demon- 
strate to the world that the coloured race are capable of 
governing themselves, and that they would be the 
means of hastening the hour of their redemption. 
(Applause.) 

F. W. Chesson, Esq., then moved the following 
resolution : — 

"That the best thanks of this meeting be presented 
to the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird, M.P. for his 
kindness in discharging the duties of treasurer ; and to 
Harper Twelvetrees, Esq. for his presidency upon this 
occasion, and also for his valuable services as Chair- 



I 



FAREWELL SOIREE TO ARDERSON. 177 

man of the Committee, and for the liberal pecuniary 
aid which he has, from time to time, rendered on behalf 
of John Anderson." 

He (Mr. Chesson) was sure that the Committee, who 
were well aware of the liberality displayed by their 
Chairman, would agree with him (Mr. Chesson) that 
that gentleman was entitled to their best thanks. In 
the course of some further complimentary remarks, 
Mr. Chesson stated that he believed for some consider- 
able time past, in consequence of the lowness of their 
funds, the maintenance of John Anderson had solely 
depended upon Mr. Twelvetrees. 

The Eev. Dr. Hewlett seconded the resolution in 
similar terms, and then submitted the resolution to the 
meeting. 

Mr. Harper Twelyetrees, in responding thanked 
them heartily for their kind expressions towards him. 
He had endeavoured to discharge what he felt to be his 
duty, and was glad to have an opportunity of acknow- 
ledging the kindness and assistance he had received 
from the committee, and especially for the hearty co- 
operation of his friends, the honorary secretaries. He 
could assure that meeting that the committee, who had 
been deeply interested in promoting Anderson s welfare, 
had had many an anxious meeting together. (Hear, hear.) 
Their path, at the commencement, appeared beset with 
difficulties, but he was sure they now had occasion to 
rejoice that He who had guided them by his counsel, 
had brought their labours to so gratifying a conclusion. 
N 



178 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

He rejoiced on behalf of John Anderson himself. He 
had a magnificent prospect before him, and if he only- 
exerted himself, as they trusted he would do, he might 
certainly attain a position which, during his previous 
history, he could hardly have anticipated. (Cheers.) 
He (the Chairman) hoped that he would not omit to 
flrrite to them, and he trusted to hear a good account of 
him in future. His best wishes were for his prosperity 
both in temporal and spiritual things. He sincerely hoped 
that John Anderson would find Liberia all that he desired, 
and that there he would be permitted to spend a long, 
prosperous, and useful life, devoted to the promotion of 
the best interests of man and the glory of God. (Cheers.) 

The following resolution was then proposed by W. 
Farmer, Esq., and seconded by F. W. Chesson, Esq : — 

" That the thanks of this meeting be presented to 
Cooke Baines, Esq., and Joseph A. Horner, Esq., the 
Honorary Secretaries to the committee of John Ander- 
son, for their indefatigable exertions to further his 
interests since his arrival in this country." 

The resolution on being put to the meeting, was 
carried unanimously, after which, the gentlemen above 
named, responded in appropriate language, and the 
proceedings terminated. 

On the following morning, December 23rd, John 
Anderson, in company with the Chairman and Honorary 
Secretaries of his committee, waited upon Gerard 
Ralston, Esq., Consul-General, to thank him for his 
letters of introduction to the President of the Republic of 



DEPARTURE OP ANDERSON. 179 

Liberia, and other principal Officers of State ; and also 
for his kindness in procuring him a grant of land. The 
interview lasted a considerable time, and much practical 
and important advice was communicated to Anderson 
by Mr. Ralston, who, on leaving, made Anderson a 
present of a parcel of books. The remainder of the 
day was occupied in taking leave of London friends, 
and finally at five o'clock p.m., he was accompanied to 
Euston Station by Messrs. Baines and Horner, and left 
London for Liverpool in charge of Mr. Pool, by whom 
he was conducted, on the following morning, to the 
African Steam Ship Armenia, leaving for Cape Palmas. 



180 



GIVE BACK HIS SLAVE? 

Ah English Answek to the Ameeican Slave-ownee who 
Demands John Anderson, peom Canada. 

[By W. C. Bennett, Esq., Author of " Baby May," and other Poems] 

Hush ! open wide your ears, I say, 

All you who boast of English blood ; 
One of your race stands here to-day, 

A suitor ; — shall he be withstood ? 
One, freer than yourselves, is here 

To twit you with "his rights of man;" 
He wants his own, his claim is clear ! 

Eefuse him justice if you can. 
What asks he there across the wave ? 
But this, that you'll give back his slave; 
He only asks that you'll rechain 

The freeman whom your rights made free, 
"Who knew, 'niongst you, that he'd remain 

The man his God made him to be. 

No word of all your British stuff, 

Tour air makes men even of the blacK. 
His owner claims this thing- -enough, 

Give back his chattel, give it back; 
What if you know it has a soul 

To madden, and a back to lash, 
This Christian knows both black as coal, 

Both made for torturing ; cease your trash ! 
Hark to him there across the wave, 
" To hang— to burn— I'll have my slave ; 
What are your talked- of rights to me ; 



LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 181 

"What is't to me your shield is thrown 
Around this wretch ? Tou make him free ? 
Eefetter him ! I'll have my own." 

His hand's not black, his hand is red, 

Eed with his blood, who, on his track, 
As from his hell of chains he fled, 

Stretched, to that hell, to seize him back. 
Murderer ? he dared, like those who made 

Their Bunker's Hill their boast to-day, 
When freedom against life was weighed, 

The enslaver, as God bade, to slay. 
Tou who of Garibaldi rave, 
And howl at Bourbons, chain this slave ! 
His right arm struck the self-same blows 

Italian bondsmen dealt of late ; 
With them, he's one of slavery's foes; 

Give him to worse than Bomba's hate ! 

God ! that we— we here to-day, 

This very hour in England, can 
Be asked to scan our laws and weigh 

This devil's right — this claim to man ! 
Talk not of laws ! who does not know 

Ho slave, a slave, can tread our soil ! 
No, no, we have not fallen so low, 

This does not make our blood to boil ; 
Of rights our nature scouts, he raves ; 
Spit at the man ! we chain his slaves ? 
No, be our name the whole world's scorn, — 

Slave torturer's lashes seam each back, 
Man's, woman's, child's, amongst us born, 

If we to chains give this man back 



182 LIFE OF JOHN ANDERSON. 

And can a treaty "bid us dare 

To act this sin to man and God ! 
If so, the accursed writing tear, 

Beneath our feet its shreds be trod ! 
No man-made laws, in this, shall bind 

Our Christian souls hell's work to do; 
The devil and his tools shall find, 

In this, to God alone we're true. 
Not in our judges' breath shall live 
The answer that to-day we give ; 
For me, whatever come, I say, 

If laws command us, " Let him go !" 
God's will, not man's, I will obey; 

Give back his slave? we thunder "No." 



FIBIS. 



SEorks on Slafmg, 

PUBLISHED BY W. TWEEDIE. 



Price Is. 6d„ 

THE DEEPER WRONG 



The Rev. John Curwen, of Plaistow, at a meeting to welcome to 
England the Rev. J. Sella Martin, recommended every man to read the 
autobiography of a slave girl, entitled, "The Deeper Wrong," and 
published by Mr. Tweedie, in the Strand. The authoress was a member 
of Mr. Martin's congregation, in Boston, U.S., and Mr. Martin freely 
vouches for her honourable and truthful character. It is no secret in 
America that the real name of Mr. Bruce, the gentleman who befriended 
this fugitive slave, is N. P. Willis, Esq., well known in both countries 
for his " Pencillings " and his sacred _ poetry . Mr. Curwen hoped that 
every man whose blood tingled with shame and indignation at the 
reading of this tale would determine to do something for the anti- 
slavery flag now raised in America, 

" Intensely interesting : equal to any romance. " — Londonderry 
Standard, 

" Has all the interest of romance, and the instruction of history." — 
Newcastle Daily Chronicle. 

" A story that would scarcely obtain credence were it not that slavery 
not only degrades the slave, but brutifies the master. Uncle Tom's 
adventures were not nearly so tragic." — Western Morning News. 

" Every page bears the impress of reality, and as a faithful transcript 
of the actual condition of the slave it is of the utmost value." — 
Caledonian Mercury. 

" One of the most useful and interesting works that have appeared in 
connection with the subject of American slavery." — Morning Star. 

" The impression it produces upon the mind owes nothing to exagger- 
ated language." — Daily News. 

Just published, second Edition, fancy boards, Is. 6d., 

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 

From SLAVERY TO FREEDOM. By Rev. W. M. MITCHELL. 
In fancy -wrappers, 295 pages of closely printed matter, Is. 6d., 

JOHN BROWN, the HERO of HARPER'S FERRY. 

An autobiography of his Childhood and Youth, with an account of 

his Public Life, Trial, and Execution. All who would understand the 

present struggle in America, would do well to read this volume. 

Just published, price 6d., 

CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE 

AFFAIR AT HARPER'S FERRY. 

A Sermon preached at Boston, U.S., by James Freeman Clarke. 

London : WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND ; 

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



Just Published, price One Shilling, cloth, lettered, 

f 21 llOMSIT 1IIII IS1ATE I 

ON 

The Cheap Press ; and the Universal Penny. 






WITH AX INTRODUCTION 

BY THE REV. HUGH ALLEN, D.D, 

(Rector of St. George's the Martyr, Southwark.) 



©pinions of % |3ress. 

" The 'Bromley Prize Essays' are the production of several gentlemen connect- 
ed with a large mercantile establishment at Bromley-by-Bow. The Essays are 
on the 'Cheap Press,' and the 'Universal Penny,' and they contain evidences of 
considerable thought and ability. The Rev. Hugh Allen, D.D., has written a 
suitable introduction." — The Dial. 

"Mr. Harper Twelvetrees already occupies a space which lifts him up like a 
high mountain in the eye of the public. While the basis of his operations are his own 
immense establishment, a considerable town in itself, we find him everywhere in 
the van when good is to be done, and the welfare of men to be promoted. One of 
his last benevolent projects wa3 the « Bromley Prize Essays ' on the ' Cheap 
Press,' and the 'Universal Penny.' The idea was original, and the publication is 
one of very considerable interest, replete with facts and figures all bearing on the 
object in view." — British Standard. 

"These Essays, written by members of the Bromley Literary Association, are 
decidedly above the average of similar productions; and evince considerable 
thought and great care in composition. The essays on ' The Cheap Press,' its value 
and influence, ' are marked by sound discrimination; and while doing justice to 
the great advantage derived from the valuable publications issued in large numbers 
and at very low prices, the writers do not hesitate to denounce the profligacy which 
too often uses the cheap press as an instrument of corruption. ■ The Universal 
Penny ' is the subject of two essays, which well deserve the careful perusal of all 
who know, or have yet to learn, the value of little things." — Grantham Journal. 

"Mr. Thomas Buffham, the successful writer of the Essay on the 'Cheap 
Pres3,' is an old contributor to our columns. His essay is an excellent production, 
embracing a wide range of thought, whilst those of his coadjutors possess very 
considerable merit." — Wisbech Advertiser, 

" We have here the four successful Essays, for which prizes were offered by 
Mr. Harper Twelvetrees, the President of the Bromley-by-Bow Literary Asso- 
ciation. The adjudicators were the Rev. Jabez Burns, D.D , and the Rev. J. G. 
Hewlett, D.D. The Essays are sensibly written, and in a style clear, natural, and 
forcible. The reflections, illustrations, and suggestions are such as would not dis- 
credit the most experienced minds engaged upon ^milar topics. The publication 
of the Prize Essays in a collective form, will, we hope, be of general service, as an 
example and stimulus of literary labour among the members of kindred societies." 
— Temperance Star. 

" The subjects and circumstances of this publication are alike interesting. 
Anxious to encourage the cultivation of literary tastes among his employes, and 
the members of the Bromley Literary Association, in a metropolitan district 
which up to that time had been greatly neglected, the President, Mr. 
Harper Twelvetrees, resolved on giving four prizes for the best and second 
best essays on the 'Cheap Press,' and the 'Universal Penny.' This offer 
called forth many eager respondents ; and as the efforts of working men, the 
successful productions which have been thus honoured seem well worthy of the 
distinction conferred upon them. The neat and tasteful manner in which the 
Essays are got up^ adds not a little to their beauty and elegance." — Xewcattle Daily 
Chronicle. 

London : WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND ; 

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



JL'i5 



t^° f c °^rf ii 



11 01l"898 6234_ 



